GROUND CONTROL II: OPERATION EXODUS
by Briareos Kerensky (briareos_hf@tiscali.it, briareos_CWE), ver 2.X
25 July 2004
Table of Contents
1-Disclaimer
2-Update History
3-History Briefing
4-Unit Stats Briefing
5-NSA Units Briefing
6-NSA Off-Map Attacks
7-Viron Units Briefing
8-Viron Off-Map Attacks
9-Terran Units Briefing
10-Fixed Emplacements Briefing
11-Dropship Upgrades Briefing
12-General Tactics
13-Multiplayer Tactics
14-Walkthrough
15-Cheats
16-Credits and misc
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1-DISCLAIMER
************
All names and marks are property of their respective owners; this document is
copyright of Briareos Kerensky: unauthorized reproduction of this document as
it is or in part is forbidden; to ask authorization send a mail to me
(briareos_hf@tiscali.it). Do not send mails asking CD keys or other personal
codes which changes with every CD package: every softhouse has its own way to
use these keys, and I won't deny myself the possibility to play online a game
only because someone has "lost the package" or "the package is corrupted".
If some sections have cheats which includes alteration of hex codes, renaming
files, creation of new ones, I will not answer of HD formatting, lost datas,
World Wars, nuclear explosions, invocation of demons of any kind or any other
damage derived from those operations.
I'm Italian, so do not pay attention to the many mistakes I'll do in spelling,
grammar construction and so on.
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2-UPDATE HISTORY
****************
25 July 2004 - version 2.X. Whole document completed, so this is the last
update with original material. I'll continue to accept submissions, anyway.
21 July 2004 - version 2.0. Added three sections, Off-Map attacks (NSA and
Viron) and Dropship Upgrades. Walkthrough completed. Only a few things remain
to complete this walkthrough, I'll try to make the next update the last one;
I'll continue to accept submissions, of course. If I manage to get some free
time (when I won't play Tales of Symphonia), I plan to complete the guides on
the original Ground Control and its expansion, Dark Conspirancy, which have
laid dormant as the Elder Race for too much time. 200 Kbs reached and passed.
18 July 2004 - version 1.8. Added missions 7, 8 and 9 to Viron walkthrough.
Started and completed the Historical briefing. Started General Tactics section.
Updated some other sections.
14 July 2004 - version 1.7a. Added mission 6 to Viron walkthrough.
11 July 2004 - version 1.7. Began the Viron walkthrough, mission 1 to 5
available. Usual updates to other sections. Before I realized that, this file
almost reached 150 Kbs...
09 July 2004 - version 1.5. Thanks to Nainara from a forum I frequent, I've got
all original mission names. Completed the NSA walkthrough. Added Viron unit
stats. Corrected a stupid mistake...confused codename Guardian (Recon
Terradyne) with Rhino (Light APC).
04 July 2004 - version 1.2. Fine-tuned units description, added missions 2
through 5 of the NSA walkthrough. All other sections recieved updates as well.
01 July 2004 - version 1.0. It has been a while since I've written a
walkthrough, I hope I'm not rusted too much to do a good work. This initial
release is mostly about general document layout, though NSA Units already have
full stats. Tutorial walkthrough completed.
Born in 2399, Marcus Augusts founded the Draconis Empire on a colony planet and
declared itself independent. The Earth government, afraid of starting a civil
war, didn't took any military action. The Draconis Empire was born, and
Augusts was proclamed Emperor.
In year 2419 the Crayven Corporation and the Order of the New Dawn fought a
bitter battle on planet Krig-7B to acquire a mysterious alien tehcnology
millions of years old. The war ended when Sarah Parker , a renegade Crayven
commander, and Jarred Stone, a renegade Order deacon, destoyed all artifacts.
Two months after, Sarah Parker destroyed the Early Warning system for unknown
motivations; this would expose the planet Earth to the First Interstellar War,
in 2431. Just before this war, however, in year 2422, the Welby-Simms
Corporation started an Indepence War to cut ties with the Earth government,
which imposed great taxes over colonies. Welby-Simms insurrection prompted all
colonies in the Outer Sphere to rebel and in 2429 the Earth government
controlled only an handful of colonies.
Taking advantage of this chaotic situation, the Draconis Empire launched a
full-scale assault against Earth, followed shortly by many corporations, eager
to expand their sphere of influence. This was called the First Interstellar War
and ended in year 2501, only when the Draconis Empire obtained full control of
the Inner Sphere. Busy in repairing all damage done under its control, the
Draconis Empire did not repaired any tachion emitter, the only way to
comunicate with the colonies in the Outer Sphere, and stopped all supply
convoys for the outer space.
Left alone, the colonies united themselves into the Northern Star Alliance, or
NSA; in year 2690, thanks to the effort of a young individual called Warhurst,
the treaty between all colonies in the Outer Sphere was signed on Ariel Prime,
the nearest planet to the Inner Sphere. Warhurst's homeplanet,
Morningstarprime, a former Crayven colony, become the NSA's capital.
The NSA never attempted to contact or reach the Inner Sphere. The only news
brought by merchant guilds talked about hegemony and indoctrination, so it was
easy to forget about the rest of humankind.
However, in 2699, the Draconis Empire, now Terran Empire, launched a full scale
attack against the colonies in the Outer Sphere. The first planet to fall was
Ariel Prime, at the hand of a young Terran officer, Vlaana Azela.
After 29 years of fighting, Vlaana rose to the rank of supreme commander of the
invasion force, the whole NSA fleet was annihilated, and the Empire begun
invading all planets.
In 2741, Mornigstar Prime is still under NSA control, but the Empire is
determined to put an end to this resistence.
Each unit in Ground Control II is defined by a series of stats. Here's a brief
explanation of the various values you'll find n each field in the following
sections. If a stat has a value between brackets, it indicates that this
particular stat changes while in secondary mode. If a stat doens't have any
other value, it means it's the same in both primary and secondary modes.
TYPE: unit's name and general role it has in the deploying army
HEALTH POINTS: maximum heath points the unit has. Once dropped to zero, the
unit is destroyed.
ARMOR TYPE: describes the armor the unit uses. Different armor types react in a
different way to the different weapon types.
ARMOR RATINGS: divided into four arcs (front, sides, rear and top,
respectively), describes how much damage the armor absorbs before affecting the
health points. A 0 (zero) rating means there is no armor and the weapon does
full damage.
MAXIMUM SPEED: self expliantory.
WEAPON TYPE: the general type of weapon the unit uses. Different weapon types
react differently when impacting various types of armor and are more suited to
fight certain types of units due to their features.
Gatling indicates the unit uses a fast-firing, low-caliber gun; they are one of
the best weapons against infantry.
Snipe are extremely precise balistic weapons with low rate of fire; Sniping
weapons can take out troopers with one or two shots but are totally inadeguate
against heavy terradyne armors.
AT means Anti-Tank; the projectiles' caliber ranges from medium to big and it
is studied to penetrate heavy armors usually employed on Terradynes. They
allocate a good amount of damage, but they are usually mounted on relatively
slow-tracking turrets and doesn't have a fast rate of fire, resulting
inadeguate to deal with infantry.
Missile are guided munitions, usually able to track both Terradynes and
Helidynes. They cannot target infantry as it poses a too small target for their
tracking system. Missile weapons usually suffer of a low rate of fire, balanced
out by their range, accurancy and firepower, especially against air targets.
Explosive indicates a weapon using some kind of projectiles which detonate upon
contact with target or terrain features; the resulting explosion allocates
damage, though less than a direct hit. Usually explosive rounds are carried by
artillery units and are used to attack a large area instead of a precise target.
Gas weapons are the most effective weapon against infantry; this category
includes flamethrowers or other gas weapons. Their range is limited and their
usefulness against vehicles is often questionnable.
Plasma weapons are extremely rare; they are effective against any kind of armor
and a single shot from a plasma weapon will heavily damage even the strongest
vehicle.
WEAPON DAMAGE: the first number denotes the minimum damage a weapon can
inflict, the second one, the maximum; damage inflicted is a number between
these two values. The effective weapon damage is also affected by weapon type
vs armor type, armor rating and various bonuses given by altitude, buidlings,
forests and so on.
WEAPON RANGE: weapon's maximum range, in meters
VISUAL RANGE: in meter; how far the unit can see units within a circle with the
value as its radius, with the unit being the center of this circle. Unit
detection is also affected by terrain features and other units' stealthness
STEALTHNESS: how much the unit is "invisible" to enemy units. A value of 0
(zero) means the unit is visible as it enters the other unit's visual range, a
value o 100 means the unit is completely invisible to enemy units.
AP COST: Acquisition Points required to order a single unit
DROPSHIP SPACE: slots a single unit will occupy on a Dropship
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5-NSA UNITS BRIEFING
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NSA bases their technology on anything proven and dependable, using standard
projectile weapons instead of the more complicated beam weapons, just like
Crayven Corporation did a long time ago. Their units seem to be the direct
evolution of these old forces, based more on armor and firepower rather than
speed or stealthness; this makes units' main tasks recognizable at the first
sight and are more flexible than more specialized units.
Standard all-around NSA infantryman. Light Troopers are a very flexible force,
able to deal with other infantry forces, armored vehicles and even air threats.
Although they cannot equal the Ogres in raw firepower and endurance or the
Raptors' speed or range, Light Troopers can effectively cover their roles with
a minimal drop in combat effectivness. In their primary mode Light Troopers are
able to efficiently deal with infantry and air units, while in secondary mode
they can pose a real threat for even heavy ground vehicles when in groups.
Specialized anti-infantry units. Snipers are probably the most effective
infantry-killers used by all armies in this conflict. They are almost invisible
even when firing, they move fast and they strike at long ranges with a very
powerful gun, able to kill a single man in two or three, well placed shots. A
small group of Raptors can effectively travel from building to building and
quietly kill all infantry with little risk of being spotted and shot back. They
can also attack vehicle, aiming at their weak spots, but the gun was not
designed for penetrating thick armors, so their usefulness is extremely limited
if there is no infantry in the area.
The biggest drawback of this unit is that it cannot fire while in primary mode
and that it cannot move in secondary mode, forcing commanders to wisely place
Raptors; also, their armor is very thin and are very susceptible to any kind of
fire.
Their only real drawback is that they cannot perform fast hit-and-run battles
or frontal assaults due to their lack of speed and endurance.
The Ogre's M4340HC1 powered suit allows them to withstand an impressive amount
of damage from various types of weapons before losing combat effectivness and
to support one of the most destructive infantry weapons designed by the NSA,
the P97h assault minigun. The uranium-depleted bullets used by this minigun are
capable of penetrating most types of armor and allocate damage even to the
heaviest Terradyne. Ogres are also faster than normal Troopers, which make an
ideal assault force in urban combat, as they can benefit of all bonuses of
normal infantry.
In secondary mode, Siege Soldiers set their miniguns in full-auto mode,
dramatically increasing their rate of fire and damage potential. As the gun
creates a strong recoil, the Soldiers cannot move while firing.
Basically, Siege Soldiers are miniaturized tanks. Even a small group of them
can take assaults from multiple Terra- and Hover- dynes, with good
probabilities that the vehicles won't leave the battlefield...or leave it in a
very bad shape. Combined with their ability to take cover in buildings and
forests and their stealthness (low for an infantrymen but higher than a
Terradyne), Siege Soldiers can spearhead an assault with very few worries.
Its purpose is simple: transporting up to eight infantrymen from a location to
an other quickly and in relative safety. Despite its size and light armor, the
Rhino employs several plates to maximize protection on all sides and mounts a
light machinegun for dealing with hostile infantry units and light vehicles.
Unable to deal with heavier vehicles, Rhinos must rely on their speed and their
ability to launch smoke grenades to hide themselves and friendly units fro
their sight.
type: NSA Assault APC - AAPC-D90 "VULCANO"
health points: 350
armor type: heavy
armor ratings: 50/20/10/0
maximum speed: 12 (none)
weapon type: gas
weapon damage: 15-30 (10-20)
weapon range: 50 (100)
visual range: 100
stealthness: 0
AP Cost: 750
Dropship space: 3
A much heavier version of the Rhino, the Vulcano uses an heavy armor to protect
itself and its cargo of eight infantrymen to enemy fire, with a minimum
reduction of speed, which still allows an Heavy APC to keep up with the NSA's
main battle Terradyne, the Liberator. The Heavy APC also switches to an heavy
flamer for self defense; when compared to other weapons, flamers have a much
shorter range and a much lower effectivness against non-infantry units, but
this gives a Vulcano the ability to fire phosphorous grenades in secondary
mode, which works exactly like a smaller-scale artillery. Although the Vulcano
cannot move when in secondary mode, its weapon range doubles and can deliver an
effective anti-infantry support to friendly vehicles or to the troops it
carries.
type: NSA Recon Terradyne - ATPJS90 "GUARDIAN"
health points: 180
armor type: heavy
armor ratings: 30/20/0/0
maximum speed: 20 (8)
weapon type: AT (none)
weapon damage: 12-25 (none)
weapon range: 150 (none)
visual range: 250
stealthness: 0 (100)
AP Cost: 350
Dropship space: 2
As its designation suggest, the Guardian is an agile Terradyne used mostly in
recon duties in any kind of terrain. Fairly resistant to enemy fire, the
Guardian relies on its speed and its secondary mode to escape from hot zones,
as its single gun, though capable of firing fairly powerful AT shells at
reasonable range isn't able to deal with heavier classes of vehicles.
The Recon Terradyne's secondary mode makes the unit invisible to all but the
most complex sensor and shorter ranges, though sacrificing more than half of
its speed.
The main drawback of the Liberator Terradynes and Siege Soldiers is that they
cannot fire at airborne targets, nor Light Helidynes can aspire to the title of
full-fledged anti-air units; the Marauder fills the role of a dedicated
anti-air mobile missile platform, although it's able to target ground targets
except infantry, as with all missile-equipped units.
Rocket Terradynes are basically standard flatbed trucks with a back-mounted
turret with right launch tubes for multirole missiles; although their firepower
is garaunteed by their rate of fire and number of missile tubes, their light
structure make them totally unsuited for front-line duties: although their
frontal arc is well armored, any other shot is likely to penetrate the armor
and allocate huge amounts of damage, leaving Marauders' allies without the much
needed anti-air coverage. Their speed allows them to efficiently follow
Liberators and combined with the range of their missiles, makes very easy to
keep Marauders away from enemy fire.
Like the similar Viron Missile Centruroid, the Marauder can engage an
Anit-Missile System in secondary mode. Activating the system immobilizes the
Rocket Terradyne, but gives stationary defenses an extraordinary defense
against artillery attacks. However, if too many missiles are launched against
the AMS protected area, the system won't be able to track all of them down.
type: NSA Combat Engineer - ACEUV-905 "ZAPPER"
health points: 150
armor type: heavy
armor ratings: 50/20/10/10
maximum speed: 12 (0)
weapon type: none
weapon damage:none
weapon range: none
visual range: 100
stealthness: 0
AP Cost: 510
Dropship space: 2
When the battle is fierce and even the hardest armor fails to stop incoming
fire, the Combat Engineer can provide on-field repairs to any unit, being it
infantry of Helidyne in a very efficent way. Although the repairing equipment
doesn't allow a Zapper to carry any weapon system, not even the lightest, the
vehicle is heavily armored on all vulnerable sides, although it's not the
healtiest vehicle in the NSA army. The Combat Engineer cannot repair itself and
will need assistance from a second vehicle. Usually, a Combat Engineer
automatically repairs any unit in sight with less than 60% of its original
health, although it won't be able to repair and move, making on-the-move
repairs very difficult.
While in secondary mode Zappers give up their speed to repair all units within
a 20-meters radius. Repair rate is much slower than the primary mode, but it's
way more easy to control when healing infantry formations.
Combat Engineers can also carry six infantrymen as they were an APC.
type: NSA Main Battle Terradyne - SEK-450 "LIBERATOR"
health points: 300
armor type: heavy
armor ratings: 50/20/0/0
maximum speed: 12
weapon type: AT (snipe)
weapon damage: 25-50 (25-50)
weapon range: 120 (100)
visual range: 120
stealthness: 0
AP Cost: 950
Dropship space: 3
The Liberator is the backbone of the NSA army. Fast, well armored and able to
deal with any kind of ground threat, the Liberator is the best overall MBT that
NSA, Viron or Terrans field, although it's has inferior stats when compared to
the Penetrator Centruroid or the Destroyer Hoverdyne. The main AT cannon
employed on the Liberator is a bit less powerful than either the heavy beam
cannon or the nail launcher used on the other MBTs, but can equal their range.
Armor used on all of these units is the same, and they also share the same
structural strenght, making them an hard target to deal with for even the
heaviest AT weapon. The Liberator cannot cross water bodies, but it's faster
than the Viron Penetrator Centruroid and only slightly slower than the Imperial
Destroyer Hoverdyne. However, the Liberator can engage infantry forces without
dedicated support, as it carries an heavy machinegun that can kill almost all
infantry units with one, well placed kill; the machinegun also has a good
range, allowing the Liberators to do this dirty work at range; the machinegun
is active only in secondary mode, when the AT cannon is inactive, but changing
between the two weapons doens't pose a problem, as it's done immediately,
allowing commanders to use the weapons recharge times to fire with the other
weapon.
type: NSA Fortress Terradyne - DTU-7499 "RAVAGER"
health points: 500
armor type: heavy
armor ratings: 50/20/10/10 (80/0/0/0)
maximum speed: 6 (none)
weapon type: AT
weapon damage: 30-60 (35-70)
weapon range: 100 (130)
visual range: 80
stealthness: 0
AP Cost: 2000
Dropship space: 4
Slow and destrutive. The Ravager is the NSA's assault Terradyne, able to
withstand incredible punishment and deliver even more before going down.
Fortress Terradynes are armed with twin heavy cannons, each able to equal a
Destroyer Hoverdyne firepower and therefore placing even the Conqueror
Hoverdyne slightly behind it in terms of raw firepower. Heavy armor plates are
spread throughout the tank, leaving no space for weak spots and a sturdy
structure ensures that the tank won't be destroyed by few hits.
However, the Ravager pays this protection with one of the slower top speeds in
all armies and a low maneuverability that also denies the turret the ability to
track efficiently fast moving targets; in fact, light vehicles and infantry
units pose the greatest threat to Ravagers as they can evade the turret and
fire at the thinner rear armor. Also the Ravager cannons' firing range exceed
its visual range, meaning that it needs scout units to fully use its twin guns.
In secondary mode the Ravager stops completely and move the thread armor to the
front, maximizing front protection and stability in order to provide
devastating long-range firepower and an incredible sturdiness, able to
withstand everything on this battlefield, as long it's not airborne, as the
Ravager cannot aim such targets.
For the reasons above, Ravagers are the best units for defensive situations,
recomended for attack only when support units are available. Their high AP cost
and space required on Dropships further limits the Ravager's tactical
effectivness.
type: NSA Mobile Artillery - AFAS-109 "HAIL"
health points: 240
armor type: heavy
armor ratings: 20/10/0/0
maximum speed: 8 (0)
weapon type: explosive
weapon damage: 15-30 (20-40)
weapon range: 300 (400)
visual range: 100
stealthness: 0
AP Cost: 1200
Dropship space: 3
Three times more efficent of the Howitzers used during the Independe Wars, the
Advanced Field Artillery System is a standard self-propelled artillery tank
that uses a three-barrel 175mm cannon to provide NSA units with devastating
long range fire. The tank itself uses heavy armor but due to the cannon's
weight and to maintain a decent speed, mounts only few plates, making the Hail
capable of sustaining only few direct AT shots.
In primary mode the Hail can target zones up to 300 meters afar, that can be
extended up to 400 meters by using four hydraulic arms to provide more
stability and less recoil; deploying these arms makes the Hail an immobile
target, however, so commanders have to carefully manage setup and movement
times.
As the AFAS uses unguided ballistic projectiles fired on a arched trajectory,
some seconds are required to effectively damage the target; being explosive
projectiles, a badly calculated attack can result in the Hail unwwilingly
damage friendly units. Always due to the projectiles' nature, the Mobile
Artillery isn't capable of precision strikes against a small target, nor it's
well suited to hit moving targets. When ordering suppressive fire, the Hail
will scatter shots over a 50 to 70 meters-wide area, trying to maximize the
effectivness of explosive shells.
As all artillery units, AFASes must be placed away from the front lines, as
their light armor and inability to deal with close targets will make them prime
targets for rushing enemy units.
The only armed Helidyne in the NSA army, the shade does everything from air
supremacy to patrolling, although it excels in none. Too lightly armored and
armed to be a true air superiority vehicle and lacking good stealth to be a
good scout, the Light Helidyne must rely on its impressive speed when the
situation is too hot to handle; its incredible speed also makes it well suited
for hit-and-run tactics on both air and ground targets, though Shades cannot
target infantry units as they are too small to be locked in by the missiles
used.
In secondary mode Shades recieve a considerable speed boost in exchange of
weapons.
type: NSA Transport Helidyne - AVTCH-6 "BIGBIRD"
health points: 300
armor type: air
armor ratings: 0/0/0/0 (20/20/20/20)
maximum speed: 20 (10)
weapon type: none
weapon damage: none
weapon range: none
visual range: 150
stealthness: 0
AP Cost: 700
Dropship space: 2
Second and last Helidyne in the NSA fleet, the Bigbird is a plain heavy
transport airborne vehicle, able to carry any vehicle and bring across
otherwise unpassable terrains. The Transport Helidyne can carry only one
vehicle, whatever its type.
Bigbirds pay their ability by not mounting any weapon, even the lighter, and in
general sturdyness and speed: although the Bigbird is faster than any ground
vehicle, it can be easy reached by any other air-to-air Helidyne; combined with
its low structural strenght and non-existent armor, the Bigbird is basically a
target for anything in the skies and other ground-to-air capable units.
Bigbirds can also engage a special shield emitter that greatly enhaces their
armor but cut in half their speed and denies them to unload their cargo.
type: NSA Defensive Unit - TTP-90 "SENTRY"
health points: 200
armor type: fixed emplacement
armor ratings: 0/0/0/0
maximum speed: none
weapon type: gatling
weapon damage: 7-15
weapon range: 100
visual range: 120
stealthness: 0
AP Cost: 250
Dropship space: 2
Twin fast-firing machine guns over a tripodal stand. Sentries can fire at
ground and air targets, however their short range and low damage potential make
them useful only against infantry if deployed in open space. If deploy in large
numbers, however, Sentries can deal some damage even to the heavier vehicle.
type: NSA Field Sensor - MSRS-4 "DETECTOR"
health points: 200
armor type: fixed emplacement
armor ratings: 0/0/0/0
maximum speed: none
weapon type: none
weapon damage: none
weapon range: none
visual range: 350
stealthness: 0
AP Cost: 500
Dropship space: 2
All three Field Sensors work in the same way: they detect any enemy unit within
their visual range. Weak armor and without movement capabilities; they can,
however, be boarded on APCs to move from a location to an other.
type: NSA Dropship
health points: 1000
armor type: very heavy
armor ratings: 0/0/0/0
maximum speed: 100
weapon type: gatling
weapon damage: 6-12
weapon range: 200
visual range: 150
stealthness: 0
AP Cost: none
Dropship space: none
Huge air unit used to deliver troops on the battlefield. Can land only on
Landig Zones (LZs) and can only be ordered to over the LZ until it runs out of
fuel. It's the only unit using a very heavy armor and it's capable of damaging
most units, mostly tanks to its fast-firing gun. Dropships can be upgraded by
using the appropriate tab and each upgrade (Armor, Weapons, Sensors, Payload,
Engines and Fuel) can rise as high as level 5. Stats represented here describes
a level 1 unit; for upgraded stats look at the DropShip Upgrades section.
NSA and Imperial Dropships doesn't differ too much, in fact, only their
external appearance changes. Viron Dropships, on the other hand, use a gas
weapon instead of the standard gatling gun, making it more effective against
infantry than vehicles (though it's still able to deliver some serious punch).
Rho is a sniper sub-class. It's far more healthy than a standard sniper and
doesn't need to switch to secondary mode to fire, allowing him to keep its
mobility wil killing infantry units with few shots. Secondary mode works in the
same way with standard Raptors: it sacrifices mobility for a longer range of
fire and higher firepower.
type: Dr. ALICE McNEAL
health points: 100
armor type: infantry
armor ratings: 0/0/0/0
maximum speed: 4
weapon type: none
weapon damage: none
weapon range: none
visual range: 200
stealthness: 0
AP Cost: none
Dropship space: none
Or generic female civilian. Although Alice has a good amount of health points,
she has no armor, weapon or even stealthness.
type: VIP Transport
health points: 300
armor type: light
armor ratings: 50/30/10/10
maximum speed: 15
weapon type: none
weapon damage: none
weapon range: none
visual range: 150
stealthness: 0
AP Cost: none
Dropship space: none
Armored vehicle used to transport V.I.P.s (Very Important Persons) from a
location to an other. Unarmed, it's only grace are its armor and its structural
strenght.
type: Battle Probe
AP Cost: 2000
effect: delivers in the selected location a field sensor, with the same
capabilities and stats. Of course, it can be destroyed by enemy troops.
type: Smoke Screen
AP Cost: 300
effect: three smoke grenades will be launched on the battlefield, creating a
blinding smoke screen in the areas where they landed.
type: Light Artillery Barrage
AP Cost: 750
effect: Small airstrike. Low damage potential over a 100 meters wide area.
Effective only against infantry, vehicles will be barely affected by this
attack.
type: Heavy Artillery Barrage
AP Cost: 2000
effect: Large airstrike. High damage potential over a 100 meters wide area.
Very effective against any kind of unit, though the heaviet vehicles will
probably survive even to a direct strike.
**********************
7-VIRON UNITS BRIEFING
**********************
Virons use nano-technology to power their army; all Viron unts can fuse with an
other identical unit to form a second type of unit, usually with a totally
different task; this process is called "meld" and at a given time, a melded
unit can un-meld to return the two original units on the battlefield. As with
melding, switching a unit to secondary mode can change the way a unit is
employed; most of secondary roles are for support or defense, as no Viron unit
was though to excel in this particular role from the beginning.
All Viron units are able to slowly regain health, even their vehicles, called
Centruroids. Centruroids also use something that can be described as a hover
movement system that allows them to pass deep water areas, like Imperial
Hoverdynes.
type: Viron Prime Clanguard "KAH'MEH"
health points: 180
armor type: infantry
armor ratings: 10/10/10/10
maximum speed: 5
weapon type: AT (none)
weapon damage: 15-30 (none)
weapon range: 110 (none)
visual range: 150
stealthness: 20
AP Cost: 250
Dropship space: 1
Viron standard infantry is very peculiar: rather than focusing on engagin other
infantry units, Prime Clanguards use an heavy AT gun, useful against armored
vehicles but with limited usefulness against other infatry units, although they
have an high damage value. A small group of Prime Clanguards can easy take down
even a Destroyer Hoverdyne without suffering too much damage; Liberators aren't
an easy target for these Clanguards as they mount heavy machineguns to deal
with infatry.
Prime Clanguards are also deployed when using the infamous Viron Assault Pod,
making them very effective to strike rear areas of the enemy.
Prime Clanguards' secondary mode increases their regeneration rate in exchange
of firepower.
Two Prime Clanguards can meld to obtain an Infector Clanguard.
type: Viron Infector Clanguard "MAALH'BUL"
health points: 200
armor type: infantry
armor ratings: 0/0/0/0
maximum speed: 7
weapon type: gas (none)
weapon damage: 10-20 (none)
weapon range: 50 (none)
visual range: 150
stealthness: 20
AP Cost: two Prime Clanguards
Dropship space: two Prime Clanguards
The result of melding two Prime Clanguards together is a single Infector
Clanguards, a dedicated anti-infantry unit, as opposite to the progenitors. The
damage potential on infantry units is unrivaled, though their weapons hae a
very short range, making them useful only in ambushes or when unloading them in
the midst of an enemy infantry formation using an APC. Infector Clanguards are
somewhat more healthy than Prime Clanguards, but have nor armor, though they
are faster in order to close in with the enemy and use their guns.
In secondary mode, the Infector Clanguard cannot shoot but continually release
a venomous gas in a small area that damages enemies only.
type: Viron Missile Clanguard "PACK'CHANGH"
health points: 200
armor type: infantry
armor ratings: 0/0/0/0
maximum speed: 5
weapon type: missile
weapon damage: 6-12 (2-5)
weapon range: 150
visual range: 150
stealthness: 20
AP Cost: 210
Dropship space: 1
One of the main drawbacks of the Prime Clanguards is that they aren't able to
target air vehicles; this applies to the whole Viron army, where few units are
capable of both ground-to-air and ground-to-ground fire, which also led to the
development of the highly specialized Fighter Helidyne to fill this gap.
However, when it's impossible to deploy vehicles, Virons can still acquire air
superiority thanks to the Missile Clanguards. These Clanguards lacks the
integral armor protection of their cousins, but are strong as Infector
Clanguards and far more flexible, beign able to strike with devastating
accurancy at long ranges on both air and ground targets. Also, Missile
Clanguards cost less than Prime Clanguards, but both Clanguards still need to
work together or have adeguate support from other vehicles, as Missile
Clanguards cannot target infantry units.
In secondary mode, Missile Clanguards use a warhead with less destructive
power, but able to spread over a small area a special acid that lowers for some
time the target's armor effectivness.
type: Viron Mortar Clanguard "TAH'CHANGH"
health points: 150
armor type: infantry
armor ratings: 0/0/0/0
maximum speed: 4
weapon type: explosive
weapon damage: 10-20
weapon range: 150
visual range: 150
stealthness: 20
AP Cost: two Missile Clanguards
Dropship space: two Missile Clanguards
Missile Clanguards can also meld together to form Mortar Clanguards, a
short-to-medium range artillery unit. as all artillery units, Mortar Clanguards
use cannons that propel projectiles over an arched trajectory to hit the
target, maximizing weapon ranges but making impossible for them to do precision
strikes or attack moving units.
These Clanguards are also slower and less resistant than all other Clanguards,
and they always act from behind: losing a Mortar Clanguard means losing not
only one valuable fire-support unit, but two, as it's formed by two Missile
Clanguards.
Mortar Clanguards, however, have many advatages: first, the cannon they use
fires much more projectiles than a standard artillery cannon, and a single
Mortar Clanguards can bypass Anti-Missile Systems, allowing it to slowing
damaging the target rather than not damaging it at all. Also, their gun has a
better firepower-to-size ratio, meaning that two Mortar Clanguards can deliver
more damage than a single Mortar Centruroid, although the Centruroid can fire
at longer distances.
As with Missile Clanguards, Mortar Clanguards carry secondary support weapons:
while in this mode, Mortar Clanguards are able to deploy a very effective smoke
screen that makes difficult for enemies to see through it.
type: Viron Gun Centruroid "BAH'KO"
health points: 150
armor type: light
armor ratings: 20/10/0/0 (90/10/0/0)
maximum speed: 20 (0)
weapon type: gatling
weapon damage: 5-10
weapon range: 120
visual range: 160
stealthness: 0
AP Cost: 350
Dropship space: 2
Although its name would suggest a unit similar to a Liberator MBT or a
Destroyer Hoverdyne, the Gun Centruroid is a recon vehicle, as its gun is able
to efficiently engage only infantry, being it a low-caliber machinegun. Also,
armor is thin and its structure isn't strong enough to withstand the damage a
Terradyne can deliver. Unfortunately, as recon vehicle, the Bah'Ko must rely on
its speed to survive, as it doens't have a full stealth mode like the NSA's
Guardian.
The Gun Centruroid secondary mode sacrifices its only asset, the high speed, to
create an incredibly thick frontal armor, useful as a last defense line, but
does nothing to improve the Bah'Ko's only weapon. The true strenght of Gun
Centruroids is, however, to create a Missile Centruroid by melding together.
type: Viron Missile Centruroid "HAAI'TAH"
health points: 280
armor type: light
armor ratings: 40/20/0/0
maximum speed: 20 (0)
weapon type: missile (none)
weapon damage: 5-10 (none)
weapon range: 150 (none)
visual range: 150
stealthness: 0
AP Cost: two Gun Centruroids
Dropship space: two Prime Centruroids
Viron's main anti-air vehicle shares many capabilities of the unit which is
generated from, the Gun Centruroid. Fusing two Bah'Kos together made the
Haai'Tah twice as durable of its "progenitor" while mantaining their high
speed. These capabilities, combined with the missile's long range, make Missile
Centruroids ideal units for harassing the enemy at long range while heavier
Centruroids reach the battle area. Missiles fired by this Centruroid aren't
particularly powerful, but are fired in groups of four, allowing to hit various
areas of a target when fighting mobile battles: when fighting Helidynes, the
Haai'Tah primary targets, this can mean that a single Missile Centruroid can
overtake two or three before being destroyed.
As with the NSA Marauder Rocket Terradyne, the Missile Centruroid can sacrifice
its firepower and ability to move to engage an anti-missile system; as with all
AMS, this system can be overloaded by multiple incoming missiles.
type: Viron Engineer Centruroid "KEE'ON RIMAH"
health points: 250
armor type: light
armor ratings: 30/20/10/10
maximum speed: 15
weapon type: gas (none)
weapon damage: 7-15 (none)
weapon range: 100 (none)
visual range: 150
stealthness: 0
AP Cost: 450
Dropship space: 2
In primary mode the Kee'On Rimah is only a fast-moving APC capable of carrying
8 infantry units where its commander need them, with only a small anti-infantry
gun able only to fend off one or two enemy men at once. However, the Kee'On
Rimah plays a vital role in the Viron army as it can accelerate the natural
helaing process of all Viron units while in secondary mode. To do this the
Engineer Centruroid loses the ability to fire back, but still maintains the
ability to move 8 infantry units without any loss of speed or armor.
Two Engineer Centruroids can be meld into a single Mortar Centruroid.
type: Viron Mortar Centruroid "CHINGH'GEH'OHN"
health points: 160
armor type: heavy
armor ratings: 40/20/0/0
maximum speed: 15
weapon type: explosive
weapon damage: 15-30
weapon range: 300
visual range: 150
stealthness: 0
AP Cost: two Engineer Centruroids
Dropship space: two Engineer Centruroids
The second Viron unit able to provide firesupport, the Mortar Centruroid isn't
powerful as the NSA AFAS or the Imperial Howitzer Hoeverdyne, although it's
faster than both, allowing these units to be quickly relocated on the
battlefield.
When two Engineer Centruroids have melted into a Mortar Centruroids, they
mostly reinforce the frontal armor of the vehicle and sacrifice much of their
structure to create the Centruroid's only artillery gun, resulting in a very
fragile unit.
The Centruroid cannon, also, hasn't the same firepower or range of other
artillery units, though it's a bit more precise; also, rather than relying on
HE (high explosive) rounds, the Mortar Centruroids uses fragmentation shells
than have a slightly larger area of effect than standard projectiles, though
they have less destructive power.
All general artillery drackbaks applies, too, so it's pretty impossible to aim
at moving targets.
In secondary mode the Chingh'Geh'Ohn fires grenades able to reduce its target's
armor, like Missile Clanguards.
type: Viron Corruptor Centruroid "GEOM'RAAH"
health points: 300
armor type: heavy
armor ratings: 50/20/0/10
maximum speed: 12 (0)
weapon type: gas
weapon damage: 15-30
weapon range: 50
visual range: 120
stealthness: 0
AP Cost: 750
Dropship space: 3
The Geom'Raah is a dedicated anti-infantry vehicle. Cabable of holding 8
infantry units in its cargo bay and using an heavy sporelauncher as main
weapon, Geom'Raahs can effectively destroy entire infantry platoons in a very
quick way, although it has to close with the enemy to do so; however the
sporelauncher fires a cloud of venomous gas rather than firing its as a stream,
making each shot effective against more than a single unit; the cloud also
takes few seconds to dissipate, maximizing its effect. Although the
sporelauncher can damage heavy vehicles, corruptor Centruroids need to be
covered by dedicated anti-tank Centruroids like Penetrators or Great Corruptors
against such enemies. Its armor can withstand heavy AT fire, and the unit is
healty enough to absorb heavy damage before going down.
The Geom'Raah's secondary mode is peculiar: just like Infector Clanguards, the
Centruroid releases an incredibly venomous cloud that affect any unit withing
its range, being it friendly or hostile; the cloud is so venomous that the
Centruroid itself takes damage from it, but if well placed, Corruptors can
exterminate light units (including vehicles) in matter of seconds.
Corruptor Centruroids can also hold 8 infantry units.
Two Corruptor Centruroids can be meld together to form a Thumper Centruroid.
type: Viron Thumper Centruroid "BULL'GASAALH"
health points: 450
armor type: heavy
armor ratings: 60/30/15/15
maximum speed: 10
weapon type: explosive (none)
weapon damage: 15-30 (none)
weapon range: 70 (none)
visual range: 120
stealthness: 0
AP Cost: two Corruptor Centruroids
Dropship space: two Corruptor Centruroids
Probably the most peculiar Viron unit, the Bull'Gasaalh can be described as a
short-ranged, heavy armored artillery unit. Stronger and with more armor than a
Penetrator, the Thumper Centruoid uses a particlar weapon that generates a
controlled earthquake-like shockwave that damages any ground unit within its
area of effect, friendly or enemyi. Each unit is struck by a small explosion,
just like am artillery shell, but the shockwave has a much shorter range (below
100 meters) and can it's fast enough to catch moving targets. As a single
target is struck by an explosion, a nearby target won't only suffer of an
explosion on its own, but also the splash damage created by the other
explosion. This creates a series of chain reactions that can be devastating for
any kind of unit, and the Thumper Centruroid can withstand the punishment to
deliver this blow...however, Thumper Centruroids tend to close as much as
possible with their objective, getting caught in their own shockwave-generated
explosions. Multiple Thumpers will likely attack their friends in this process,
probably resulting in the Centruroids premature deth due to friendly fire.
The secondary mode is possibly even more peculiar: the Thumper projects and
energy field capable of increasing the armor values of all friendly units
within its area of effect.
type: Viron Penetrator Centruroid "HUN'MUH"
health points: 300
armor type: heavy
armor ratings: 50/20/0/0
maximum speed: 10 (0)
weapon type: AT
weapon damage: 30-60 (25-50)
weapon range: 120 (250)
visual range: 120
stealthness: 0
AP Cost: 950
Dropship space: 3
Viron's main battle Centruroid. Penetrators use a very powerful cannon to deal
with any ground threat, being it infantry or vehicle. As the Hun'Muh lacks
dedicated anti-infantry weapons, Corruptor Centruroids or Infector Clanguards
are recomended to complement this unti against a massive infantry force, but
Penetrators can nonetheless take care of small group of infantry with little or
no worries, thanks to their thick frontal armor.
In secondary mode Penetrators become premiere defensive weapons, sacrificing
movement abilities for extreme weapon range. Although the gun's penetration
power decreases a little, it can still be compared to Imperial Destroyer
Hoverdynes and NSA Liberators, making the Penetrator are very dangerous unit to
deal with. To be used at its best, Hun'Muh secondary mode needs forward scouts
to highlight closing enemies.
type: Viron Great Corruptor Centrutoid "CHEE'WOH"
health points: 600
armor type: heavy
armor ratings: 50/20/0/0 (50/30/20/20)
maximum speed: 8 (16)
weapon type: AT (none)
weapon damage: 25-50 (none)
weapon range: 150 (none)
visual range: 120
stealthness: 0
AP Cost: two Penetrator Centruroids
Dropship space: two Penetrator Centruroids
The Great Corruptor is the heaviest and largest Centruroid used by Viron forces
and it's the result of two Penetrators melded together. Although the Chee'Woh
cannot equal Hun'Muhs in raw firepower or speed, it keeps the same armor rating
but double its health points and enhaced by 30 meters the main gun's range. The
Chee'Woh is also only a bit slower than its unmelded counterpart and can switch
to secondary mode to double its speed and enhace its armor in exchange of
weapons: this allows the Great Corruptor to cover long distances in an
unnatural short time for such a great Centruroid. The main drawback of the
Great Corruptor is its main gun, designed only to engage ground vehicles.
Alone, the Great Corruptor cannot fire back at infantry and air units.
type: Viron Fighter Helidyne "GEEH'MU'GEE"
health points: 160
armor type: air
armor ratings: 0/0/0/0
maximum speed: 27 (20)
weapon type: missile (none)
weapon damage: 15-30 (none)
weapon range: 150 (none)
visual range: 150
stealthness: 0
AP Cost: 600
Dropship space: 2
One of the main drawbacks of the Viron army is that not many ground units are
able to reply to air attacks; the Geeh'Mu'Gee is a Fighter Helidyne especially
designed to take care of incoming air threats, giving ground units the
much-needed help.
Fighter Helidynes are fast units, able to move from a location to an other in a
hearthbeat, delivering powerful missile attacks to anything airborne within
their firing range. Being their weapons missiles, Fighter Helidynes cannot
target ground units.
as with all Viron units, the Geeh'Mu'Gee is capable of self-healing the damage
taken; in secondary mode, it sacrifices some of its speed and its weapons to
increase this self-healing rate.
type: Viron Screamer Helidyne "JOH'JACK"
health points: 300
armor type: air
armor ratings: 0/0/0/0
maximum speed: 15 (10)
weapon type: snipe (none)
weapon damage: 5-10 (none)
weapon range: 100 (none)
visual range: 150
stealthness: 0
AP Cost: two Fighter Helidynes
Dropship space: two Fighter Helidynes
When two Geeh'Mu'Gees meld together, a Joh'Jack is born. As its progenitor,
this Helidyne is a support unit, this time a dedicated anti-infantry air unit.
In the melding process creates a far more resistant unit, but also cuts speed,
although a Screamer Helidyne can keep up pace and pass most Viron ground units
with ease, amking it an ideal completemt for Great Corruptors, which are unable
to target infantry. The Screamer Helidyne can also target vehicles and other
air units, although its weapon cannot hope to damage anything heavier than a
Light Terradyne, and it has even troubles against this kind of target, so it's
better to use Joh'Jacks as infantry hunters or as spotters.
The unit's secondary mode slows it down and negates the use of its only weapon
as the unit begins to emit an hi-pitched sound that reduces enemies' self
defense capabilities within a 50 meters area.
type: Viron Scout Helidyne "BORAH'MAAR"
health points: 300
armor type: air
armor ratings: 0/0/0/0 (20/20/20/20)
maximum speed: 10 (0)
weapon type: gatling (none)
weapon damage: 2-5 (none)
weapon range: 120 (none)
visual range: 150 (400)
stealthness: 0
AP Cost: 550
Dropship space: 2
The best scout unit in the game, the Borah'Maar is also the only scout unit in
the Viron army and its role is very important in any major Viron battle.
Although in primary mode the Scout Helidyne is only a sturdy flying unit with a
weak gun for self-defense, in secondary mode shows its true ability; standing
still and disabling all weapons, the Borah'Maar enhaces its armor and allows
any Viron unit to see any kind of enemy within a 400 meter radius.
type: Viron Contaminator Helidyne "WAN'GREH'OHNG"
health points: 220
armor type: air
armor ratings: 0/0/0/0 (50/50/50/50)
maximum speed: 15 (10)
weapon type: gas (none)
weapon damage: 15-30 (none)
weapon range: 80 (none)
visual range: 150
stealthness: 0
AP Cost: two Scout Helidynes
Dropship space: two Scout Helidynes
The Contaminator Helidyne is as peculiar as the other Viron "complex" Helidyne,
the Joh'Jack. First, this is the only flying unit able to carry up to eight
infantry man and the Contaminator Helidyne moves faster and any other APC in
primary mode and has a respectable speed in secondary mode. Second, it uses
twin heavy sporelaunchers able to kill infantry in few seconds; the
sporelaunchers aren't too effective against vehicles, but are more powerful
than the Screamer Helidyne's won weapons and can slowly damage an opponent in
the Wan'Greh'Ong isn't shoot down.
In secondary mode the Contaminator Helidyne moves slower and cannot fire, but
greatly enhaces its armor.
type: Viron bio-pulsar cannon
health points: 200
armor type: fixed emplacment
armor ratings: 20/20/20/20
maximum speed: none
weapon type: gatling
weapon damage: 10-20
weapon range: 140
visual range: 150
stealthness: 0
AP Cost: 250
Dropship space: 2
Fixed cannon which can be moved only with the help of APCs. The Viron
bio-pulsar cannon is more armored and powerful than its NSA counterpart,
although it cannot match the rate of fire.
type: Viron field sensor
health points: 200
armor type: fixed emplacment
armor ratings: 0/0/0/0
maximum speed: none
weapon type: none
weapon damage: none
weapon range: none
visual range: 350
stealthness: 50
AP Cost: 500
Dropship space: 2
All three Field Sensors work in the same way: they detect any enemy unit within
their visual range. Weak armor and without movement capabilities; they can,
however, be boarded on APCs to move from a location to an other. Virons don't
really need it as it can be replace with the far more flexible Scout Helidyne.
type: Centruroid VI'CATH
health points: 600
armor type: heavy
armor ratings: 50/20/0/0
maximum speed: 10
weapon type: AT
weapon damage: 6-12
weapon range: 150
visual range: 150
stealthness: 0
AP Cost: none
Dropship space: none
The largest Centruroid used by the Virons, and can be used only by Clan
Vi'Caths. Despite its massive size this Centruroid can move at relatively high
speeds and it's well protected by a thick armor; unfortunatley all means that
the Centrutoid's main gun is undersized for a vehicle of this size, making it
dangerous only for light Terradynes attacking it head-on.
type: Viron Dropship
health points: 1000
armor type: very heavy
armor ratings: 0/0/0/0
maximum speed: 100
weapon type: gatling
weapon damage: 6-12
weapon range: 200
visual range: 150
stealthness: 0
Huge air unit used to deliver troops on the battlefield. Can land only on
Landig Zones (LZs) and can only be ordered to over the LZ until it runs out of
fuel. It's the only unit using a very heavy armor and it's capable of damaging
most units, mostly tanks to its fast-firing gun. Dropships can be upgraded by
using the appropriate tab and each upgrade (Armor, Weapons, Sensors, Payload,
Engines and Fuel) can rise as high as level 5. Stats represented here describes
a level 1 unit; for upgraded stats look at the DropShip Upgrades section.
NSA and Imperial Dropships doesn't differ too much, in fact, only their
external appearance changes. Viron Dropships, on the other hand, use a gas
weapon instead of the standard gatling gun, making it more effective against
infantry than vehicles (though it's still able to deliver some serious punch).
type: Viron Melding Egg
health points: 200
armor type: infantry
armor ratings: 0/0/0/0
maximum speed: none
weapon type: none
weapon damage: none
weapon range: none
visual range: 50
stealthness: 0
Every melding unit will momentarly change into this egg during the process,
whatever type of unit is. The only difference between an infantry or vehicle
egg, for example, is how big the resulting egg is. The melding process takes
from one to three seconds, depending on the units performing the action.
type: Viron Unmelding Egg
health points: 100
armor type: infantry
armor ratings: 0/0/0/0
maximum speed: none
weapon type: none
weapon damage: none
weapon range: none
visual range: 50
stealthness: 0
This Egg is the same as the Melding Egg, only it has half the health and it's
formed by unmelding units.
type: Assault Pods
AP Cost: 2500
effect: Five pods will land on the selected area, each one with a Prime
Clanguards that will be directly under your control. The Pods can be tracked
down and attacked by all anti-air capable units, though they are very fast and
usually aren't even detected until landed. The Pods can penetrate anti-missile
defenses.
type: Viral Spores
AP Cost: 1000
effect: delivers poisonous gas over the selected area. The gas is strong enough
to damage vehicles but it's particularly effective against infantry. The gas
will last for few seconds before vanishing.
type: Artillery Barrage
AP Cost: 1000
effect: The Viron version of the NSA's Artillery Barrage. Nothing more, nothing
less.
***********************
9-TERRAN UNITS BRIEFING
***********************
Terran units use energy and beam weapons in place of traditional balistic and
missile weapons and prefer Hoverdyne chassis over the more common well- or
thread- driven Terradynes, just like the Pax Dei, the Order of the New Dawn
army, used in the past; these choices make Terran units faster than most other
military units while allowing them to mount a comparable amount of armor and
powerful enough weapons to confront everything on the battlefield, plus giving
them the ability to cross deep waters. Each Terran unit is highly specialized
to deal with various kind of enemies that can be encountered.
Standard Imperial foot soldier. When compared to their closest opponent, the
NSA Light Trooper, Legionnaires suffer of the lack of a secondary weapon and of
the lighter armor they use. Primary weapons are the same, though, making the as
good as Light Troopers in dealing with any target.
type: Imperial DRAGOON
health points: 250
armor type: infantry
armor ratings: 0/0/0/0
maximum speed: 5
weapon type: gas
weapon damage: 5-10
weapon range: 50
visual range: 100
stealthness: 40
Anti-infantry Imperial elite troops. Dragoons are much rare than standard
Legionnaires as their task is way too specialized and their weapons can engage
only at very short range infatry units, making them totally useless against
vehicles or long-range anti-infantry units like Siege Soldiers or Raptors.
The Centurio is used by Imperial commanders, the Centurions, to lead their
troops on the battlefield. Its armor is light, nor it's particularly fast and
it's able only to defend itself against light infantry; sensors are also
inferior when compared to the Imperials' only scout vehicle, the Light
Hoverdyne. Centurios are relatively rare and will stay out of all fights.
The Imperial do not employ "true" scout units, but the Pathfinder is what is
used for reconaiisance duties; fast, decently armored and with only a light
machinegun to repel attacks, the Light Hoverdyne usually works as vanguard for
the heavier Destroyer Hoverdynes or to harrass enemy troops from the rear or
sides.
type: Imperial DESTROYER Hoverdyne
health points: 350
armor type: heavy
armor ratings: 50/20/0/0
maximum speed: 15
weapon type: AT
weapon damage: 30-60
weapon range: 120
visual range: 120
stealthness: 0
The backbone of the Imperial Army. The Destroyer Hoverdyne is a succesful blend
of speed, armor and firepower, capable of attacking almost any ground vehicle
with little or no fear. The main drawbacks of this excellent Hoverdyne are its
incapability to attack airborn targets and that its AT weapon doens't pose a
great threat for massed infantry attacks, making it ineffective against Siege
Soldiers and Prime Clanguards; against vehicles of similar capabilities, the
Destroyer is a Hoverdyne to be renocked with, being able to sustain heavy fire
and deliver devastating blows. As with all Hoverdynes, the Destroyer tend to be
faster than both NSA and Viron counterparts.
type: Imperial CONQUEROR Hoverdyne
health points: 550
armor type: heavy
armor ratings: 70/20/0/0
maximum speed: 8
weapon type: AT
weapon damage: 40-80
weapon range: 100
visual range: 120
stealthness: 0
Where Destroyers cannot deliver as much firepower is needed, the Imperials
field the Conqueror Hoverdyne. The Conqueror is much slower than a Destroyer
and cannot equal its firing range, but it's thick frontal armor and powerful AT
cannon make it ideal for defensive emplacments and frontal assaults. Conqueror
Hoverdynes are less flexible than Destroyer Hoverdynes as they can be easily
flanked by fast moving ground units and still cannot engage air targets and the
AT cannon, though powerful, is partially useless against infantry.
For this reason, Conqueror Hoverdynes are stationed near important locations as
defenders, usually backed up by Legionnaires or turrets to complement its
deficiences.
Striders are premiere infantry-support vehicles. Their bipedal movement system
allows them to travel on almost any terrain without sacrificing speed, though
it makes impossible to mount large-caliber cannons or heavy armors. The A4
Combat Strider has been designed as the premiere infantry killer within the
Imperial army; its gatling beam cannon can deal large amounts of damage to
infantry units while its armor can withstand most attacks coming from its
targets. Although Striders cannot equal Hoverdynes in pure speed, they can
effectively keep up pace with Infantry, maximizinf their effectivness as
infantry suppression weapons.
Missile Striders can give infantry and Combat Strider units an higly effective
anti-air platform, being able to withstand damage from infantry, light-vehicle
and air weapons. Rocket Striders also have a wider sensor area, making somewhat
ideal for scounting.
Terran's standard issue artillery tank. As with all Terran units it uses a beam
cannon, which cannot match the NSA counterpart's range or rate of fire, though
being more powerful when compared to the AFAS' primary mode.
type: Imperial Engineer Hoverdyne
health points: 250
armor type: heavy
armor ratings: 50/20/0/0
maximum speed: 10
weapon type: gatling
weapon damage: 6-12
weapon range: 50
visual range: 60
stealthness: 0
The exact copy of the NSA Engineer Vehicle on a hover chassis which mounts a
small gatling weapon in place of rear armor plates.
type: Imperial Attack Helidyne
health points: 180
armor type: air
armor ratings: 0/0/0/0
maximum speed: 15
weapon type: AT
weapon damage: 20-40
weapon range: 150
visual range: 175
stealthness: 0
The Attack Helidyne boasts a powerful missile array much more powerful of the
NSA's Light Helidyne or the Viron's Fighter Helidyne, giving it an edge over
other air unit; as its NSA counterpart the Attack Helidyne is capable of
targeting ground units except infantry, although missile effectivness is
greatly reduced. The Attack Helidyne is also more resistant than both other
air-to-air units, although it cannot move as fast as the other units.
All three Field Sensors work in the same way: they detect any enemy unit within
their visual range. Weak armor and without movement capabilities; they can,
however, be boarded on APCs to move from a location to an other.
type: Imperial Dropship
health points: 1000
armor type: very heavy
armor ratings: 0/0/0/0
maximum speed: 100
weapon type: gatling
weapon damage: 6-12
weapon range: 200
visual range: 150
stealthness: 0
Huge air unit used to deliver troops on the battlefield. Can land only on
Landig Zones (LZs) and can only be ordered to over the LZ until it runs out of
fuel. It's the only unit using a very heavy armor and it's capable of damaging
most units, mostly tanks to its fast-firing gun. Dropships can be upgraded by
using the appropriate tab and each upgrade (Armor, Weapons, Sensors, Payload,
Engines and Fuel) can rise as high as level 5. Stats represented here describes
a level 1 unit; for upgraded stats look at the DropShip Upgrades section.
NSA and Imperial Dropships doesn't differ too much, in fact, only their
external appearance changes. Viron Dropships, on the other hand, use a gas
weapon instead of the standard gatling gun, making it more effective against
infantry than vehicles (though it's still able to deliver some serious punch).
type: Truck with special equipment
health points: 300
armor type: light
armor ratings: 0/0/0/0
maximum speed: 9
weapon type: none
weapon damage: none
weapon range: none
visual range: 0
stealthness: 0
Simple wheeled truck filled with colbat charges.
type: Zethan drilling equipment Transport
health points: 600
armor type: heavy
armor ratings: 60/60/60/60
maximum speed: 6
weapon type: none
weapon damage: none
weapon range: none
visual range: 120
stealthness: 0
Huge hover transport used to move drilling equipment. Extremely slow but with
good armor rating. Totally undefended.
Standard NSA AT emplacement. It uses twin heavy AT cannons to deliver
devastating blows to any vehicle which dares to come within weapon range,
enough to fire back at most MBTs.
type: Imperial SAM Site
health points: 300
armor type: fixed emplacement
armor ratings: 50/20/0/0
weapon type: missile
weapon damage: 30-60
weapon range: 250
visual range: 200
stealthness: 0
Although it's always claddified as "Imperial", both NSA and Terran forces use
the same time of Surface-to-Air Missiles to deal with airborne threats. The SAM
site is capable of firing accurate and decently powerful missiles at a
reasoably high rate of fire, making short work of any Helidyne within attack
range. SAM sites can heavily damage Dropships, too.
Standard turret used by Terran forces to repel infantry. It uses four accurate,
fast-firing, low-powered guns to create a devastating rain of porjectiles
lethal to any infantry unit. Being an highly specialized turret, these
emplacements cannot fire back at air units nor cannot thing to damage
Terradynes in frontal assaults.
Imperial standard AT fixed emplacement. Although it has an higher rate of fire
than the Shrike-5 turret, it cannot match it in pure firepower nor in ability
to withstand enemy fire. It is relatively rare, as the Imperials prefer to use
Pulverizer turrets to defend important places.
Where Anti-Infantry turrets deal at long range with infantry thanks to four
fast-firing cannons, the Scorcher employs a single, massive flamethrower to
deal with massed infantry attacks at medium/short ranges. Infantry units can
withstand only one, if they are lucky two, shots from this high powered
flamethrower before beign killed; the turret is also capable of almost
continuos fire and it's heavily armored. Although usually flames aren't a big
problem for vehicles, the rate of fire and high-powered output of this tuttet
can pose a threat even to ground non-infantry units. The T-99 turret isn't
capable of anti-air fire.
A massive turret, specialized in taking out any ground unit. Using twin plasma
cannons, Pulverizer turrets can devastate even the heavier vehicle in few shots
and its thick armor makes it a though nut to crack. The plasma cannons cannot
reach too far, but are adeguate enough to counter any Terradyne, Centruroid or
Hoverdyne currently deployed. The best way to deal with these turrets are air
or artillery units.
Fixed version of the AMS devices carried by the NSA Rocket Terradyne or the
Viron Missile Centruroids. As with those two units, the AMS turret cannot track
down all incoming missile fire.
Probably a left-over of the old Crayven/Order war on Krig-7B, this turret is a
short-range anti-infantry weapon, with most armor concentrated on front and
sides. Its turret cannot do a full 360 turn and its usefulness is limited. More
unique than rare.
Moveable heavy platform with a full-sized orbital cannon on it. Although it has
a very heavy armor and lots of hit points, it can be brought down by infantry
with relative ease.
Well, technically it's not a fixed emplacement but it's neither a unit from the
three main factions in the game. The CSS Astrid is represented by six of these
locations, which are probably Dropship elevators.
Let me first talk about experience levels. Each time a unit delivers a fatal
blow to an enemy (the enemy's health drop to or beyond 0), the killing unit is
awarded experience points. If the unit has earned enough experience points, it
will progress one level. Higher the level, more experience points (killed
units) the unit will need to pass. It is possible to check a unit's experience
progression by selecting a single unit and watch the bar below the
forest/building bonus icons. A nearly full bar means the unit has lots of
experience points, a dark bar means that the unit hasn't earned any points.
Level progression will affect only the damage a unit can allocate. For example,
a level 1 NSA Sniper does 30-60 damage points, meaning that damage will be
within those two numbers. A Level 3 Sniper will do 40-60 damage points,
considerably rising its damage potential, as the minimum damage it can allocate
is now 40 points, not 30. So far, I succeded in bringing a single unit up to
level 10, and its minimum and maximum damage values are the same. I doubt that
there's a 11th, 12th or any level beyond ten and that other stats will be
affected.
Note that this applies to both your units and AI-controlled units.
Acquisition Points are earned by completing an objective, killing enemy units
or by...waiting. On the upper edge of the screen, there's a small bar with a
xxx/xxx % value. The first value indicates how many units are currently under
your direct control while the second you upkeep cost. Higher is this value
(near 100%), more APs you will recieve over time. The percentual will drop as
you order units, reducing the APs you'll recieve. An upkeep cost of 0% means
that you won't recieve extra Acquisition Points by "waiting". The only way to
mantain the upkeep cost at high levels, is to employ as few units as you can;
basically, the game wants you to use your existing units at best.
AP points can be used to call down units using the Dropship, upgrade it or use
Off-Map attacks. The first option is self expliantory and I'll cover the
Dropship later. Off-Map attacks are what the name suggests: you can use these
attacks in whatever part of the map, without restrictions. Offensive attacks
(like Artillery Barrages or Assault Pods) cost a lot of APs and must be used
wisely; although powerful, Artillery Barrages, for example, aren't made for
precision strike and won't track any moving unit, as are aimed over a certain
location. Also, the more powerful is the attack, the more time it will require
to be activated: expect some delay after ordering an Artillery Barrage, as
bombers have to reach the designated area (NSA) or the Clanship must aim its
main cannons (Virons). Viron Assault Pods are very particular; first, the Pods
themselves can be targeted by anti-air defenses and therefore can be destroyed,
and if they land, they "create" a Prime Clanguard. Each Pod holds a single
Clanguard and each attack sends five Pods; the Clanguards will be under your
direct command. Being able to strike whatever zone of the map (as long it's
passable terrain) and then move, Assault Pods are a very dangerous attack.
After being used one time, each Off-Map attack needs to be recharged. The
amount of time required is indicated by a bar below the attack icon.
Dropships are used to bring your units to the battlefield; they are very
powerful units, able to withstand large amount of punishment and deliver some
heavy punches especially if their weapons are upgraded.
Even when unloading unit (process where they touch the ground for some seconds)
they can be targeted only by units capable of firing at air units, and due to
their particular armor, missiles aren't as effective as against Helidynes.
Dropships aren't invincible though: a full group of 16 Fighter/Attack/Scout
Helidynes can take a Dropship out and will be impossible to call down an other
Dropship until it has been replaced; the reinforcment icon will turn red and a
bar will begin to show the replacement process, which takes some time. The most
useful upgrades a Dropship can have are engines (upgrade their movement and
unloading speed), payload (allows more units to be carried) and firepower (self
expliantory...useful when enemies are knocking on your LZ and extra firepower
is needed). Upgrades won't be passed from a mission to an other in single
player game and they are seldom useful as they are in multiplayer games. As all
air units, Dropships cannot take control of LZs or hold them if under attack by
enemy ground troops; if a Dropship is going to drop its cargo and the LZ
becomes neutral or hostile, it will fly back to base, without delivering the
order units and all APs spent for those units will be lost, so keeping safe LZs
is a primary objective. Note that when upgrading a Dropship, it won't be
available to deliver troops, and higher is the level of the upgrade, longer it
will take. For a complete listing of time, APs required and effects, see the
appropriate section.
The mechanics of this new chapter are very different from the first chapter:
GCII is far more fast-paced and allows to call down extra units, allowing to
costumize your units to your fighting style and what you are going to encouter;
the faster pace negates much of the time spent for an accurate tactical
preparation, meaning that fire-support units like artilleries are less useful
than before, although underestimating a strong defenseable position and
proceeding with a frontal attack without knowing the sorroundings will bring a
defeat, no matter what.
As in the previous game, all "active" (manned) units and buildings aren't
showed neither on the minimap (lower left side of the user interface) nor on
the 3D map; to see them, you need a direct line of sight from any of your units
(or allies' own). Line of sight is normally obstructed by hills (or other
terrain features) and civilian buildings. Trees and military buildings do not
obstruct line of sight but trees and civilian buildings/bunkers can provide
infantry a stealthness bonus. Weather can affect line of sight too: first, it
decreases maximum visual range and second it enhaces stealthness of any unit
that already has a stealth value above 0, so don't expect Terradynes to being
stealthier due to rain or snow; it is interesting to note that rain or snow
give the same "bonus" over line of sight. Night doesn't affect these
parameters, as cloudy conditions don't.
Unlike the first Ground Control, placing a unit is shadows doens't increase its
stealthness, although placing them under a spotlight decreases its stealth
bonus, but this "malus" cannot lower the listed stealth value.
Weather doesn't affect weapon ragen, damage or unit speed.
Although direct line of sight isn't established, you will always see any unit's
weapon fire; this is especially useful in determining if the enemy is using
artillery units or long-range turrets and/or units; all these cathegories are
easily recognizable: artillery units fire their shots upward, long-range
anti-infantry turrets produces four streams of energy bolts in rapid
successions while Pulverizer turrets a single, streamlined gray/blue line with
a small "flame" at the barrel's nozzle; AT cannons produces a strong thunderous
sound, with yellowish fire (standard shells) or blue for energy cannons.
Gatling guns generate a very thin grey line with a typical machinegun sound;
flamethrowers and gas weapons a yellowish/red or green cloud.
Terran features also give units accurancy and damage bonuses; the latter is
molty given by the fact than most units use a very thin armor on their "top"
location (last armor value)m while the accurancy bonus is given to all units
firing to a target downward. Due to these factors, Helidynes have an advantage
over all ground units, although they pay this and their other benefits with a
general structural weakness. Ground units attacking other ground units on
higher ground must rely on brute force or artillery and other long-range fire
units.
Speaking of armor, each vehicle has a front, side, rear and top armor rating:
higher the rating, more damage the armor will absorb; this value is further
modified by the armor type and weapon type.
Snipe weapons are efficient against infantry-type armors but not against any
other type. Gatling guns are effective against light armors and a bit less
agains infantry; heavier armors greatly reduces their effect. AT weapons are
the best against heavy and very heavy armors (the latter type is used on
Dropships only) but they suffer against any other type of armor. Missile
weapons gain a considerable bonus against armors used by Helidynes. Explosive
weapons doesn't have any particular malus but they can devastate infantry and
light armors. Gas weapons are the top against infantry. Plasma weapons have a
bonus against all armor types.
Taking advantage of the various weapon types to deal the most damage is vital,
as it is to continually move to target the weakest sides of the enemy;
unfortunately this also exposes your units' weak sides, so it is very
important to decide quickly if you can withstand a front-to-front battle and to
use any terrain feature to avoid counterfire; moving will decrease unguided
shots accurancy, and terrain will block any incoming fire; missiles are an
exception, as they are guided and so follow their target until it's destroyer
or it has gone out of sight, though they aren't able to evade any obstacle.
Of the two main factions, the best scouting unit is the Viron Scout Helidyne,
followed shortly by the NSA Guardian; although the Viron Helidyne cannot cloack
itself, in secondary mode can reveal any unit within a 400 meter radius, which
is also the great visual range of any unit in the game. The Guardian's cloack
mode doesn't grant complete invisibleness: at very short ranges, Guardians can
be spotted.
Speaking of secondary mode, note that when switching a unit from a mode to an
other, the unit will stop all its current orders; for example: if a Liberator
is moving and you switch to secondary mode (anti-infantry machinegun, doesn't
affect movement capabilites at all), the Liberator will stop and an other
movement order must be issued. This is clearly a glitch in the game, and I
think Massive is working on it and an other important glitch, the camera;
whenever clickin on the minimap to frame a certain portion of the map, the
camera will decrease its altitude, reducing the portion of battlefield you can
see. When tracking units (double click on the unit's icon), the camera will
adjust itself ot its maximum visual range; tracking a Scout Helidyne in
secondary mode will grant a suberb sight on the battlefield, though fog and
other graphic effects (and framerate, if your PC isn't up to it) will reduce
the effectivness of such a large view; when a camera is moved by the arrow keys
or by palcing the mouse cursor at the edges of the screen, it will be unlocked
and it will zoom to the maximum sight possible.
When moving multiple types of units, the formation will move at the speed of
the slower unit. Also note that when infantry is moved with vehicles, the
formation distance will be greatly increased, making your formation less
effective than the usual close formation; also, slowing down vehicles to
infantry speed is usually a mistake, as they can use this factor as and
advantage in many cases; however, if infantry is the only way to gain anti-air
cover, you might want to move them at the same speed, or, better, move the
infantry first, wait for a while and then move the vehicles; or do the opposite
if the anti-air units are faster than escorted units. This is especially true
with the Virons, where all anti-air units are either faster or slower than
their main tanks.
Learn to use the direction marker; the direction marker is the green line that
extends from the formation center to the mouse cursor and indicates the facing
the units will assume after arriving at the chosen location; facing wiht the
heavier frontal armor a point wher ethe enemy is like to pass is better than
exposing the much weaker lateral or rear armor. Also, when moving multiple kind
of units, their resulting formations can resutl in fire-support units being in
the first line, so it's always better to use unit groups (selected with 1
through 9, assigned with CRTL + 1 to 9) to move similar units to better place
them on the field.
When firing, units will always look for the first enemy that enters their
visual range/firing range, whatever legal type it is (I mean, Liberators won't
track Helidynes) until it is destroyed. The computer usually aims one unit with
all units attacking, so it's better to follow its example and concentrate fire
on a single unit rather than scattering firepower on several units.
It is possible to change this behaviour by using the "B" button or the
three-star icon on the interface; all units, except artillery are always set in
"free fire" mode (three bullets icon); the second mode (single bullet icon)
makes your unit fire only after being fired upon; while set in third mode units
won't even reply when fired upon and will wait for your order to attack;
artillery units are set in this mode and there's no real need to change their
behaviour as they will probably harm your own troops.
Unfortunately, I won't be able to complete this section myself. I've played a
multiplayer game or two, but since Massgate is far from being really complete
and I cannot stand GameSpy (long story, don't ask), I won't be playing online
often...in fact, I doubt I'll ever play GCII online again, as I don't have too
much free time to spend on it.
Sorry.
I'll be glad to accept any submission for this section, as well for the others.
**************
11-WALKTHROUGH
**************
This walkthrough has been written with all missions set to normal difficulty.
Please note that the weather description is only a rough report of what you'll
find on the battlefield: let's say a map has been set to cycle between sun,
clouds and rain: this cicle is random, so don't expect a full weather report
for the whole mission.
Also, units may vary, depending on how you are acting and what the AI ate for
breakfast; usually replaying a mission without exiting from the game prompts
the AI to be a bit more aggressive and unit position might vary. Artillery
seems the exception to this rule.
------------
--TUTORIAL--
------------
Name: TUTORIAL 1
Briefing: the Terran have a resupply convoy passing through this area once
every month, and by destroying it you will deny all needed supply for the
Terran units on-planet.
Starting units:
+ Saergent Rho
Primary Objectives:
+ Rho must survive
+ Stop the Terran convoy
Secondary Objectives:
none
Map Description: hilly terrain, with the East part dominated by a city, and to
the west of it, a small forest. Various Nav Points are signaled by red markers.
Support Availability: no Dropships or Off-Map Attacks.
Extra Unit Availability: none
Weather Description: cloudy, but no rain, fog or other troubles during the
whole mission
Walkthrough:
Pretty simple. Just follow what the AI tell. At the second marker you'll get
four Light Troopers, the third a Recon Terradyne and at the fourth a Combat
Engineer. The final two markers are located where the Terran convoy will
appear; move the Infantry to the building east of the entry point, facing north
or west, then move Sarge Rho to the first marker. The convoy (2 Light APCs and
some Legionnaires) will appear. Use the Trooper's AT weapons to take care of
the APCs then switch to primary mode the kill all Legionnaires. The second
market signals a building with 4 Raptors, but they will remain neutral even if
you bring Rho or the Troopers near them.
De-briefing: "No more burgers for the Terrans", as Saergent Rho says.
Name: TUTORIAL 2
Briefing: there's a base which is the last NSA stronghold in a Terran-occupied
urban area. You will have to organize the base defenses and then repel the
present Terran forces.
Starting units:
none
Primary Objectives:
+ Defend LZ
+ Repair the Cannon emplacements
+ Conquer all VLs
Secondary Objectives:
none
Map Description: the West area is occupied by a large city- The base itself can
be accessed trhough a single bridge at the center of the map, very near to the
Shrike-5 cannons. There are two observation towers just behind the cannons and
your first LZ is placed well inside the base. There's a third Shrike-5 cannon
south of the LZ, though it is pratically useless. Just west of the bridge
there's a second LZ, occupied by the Terrans. The first VL is located northwest
of the second LZ, sorrounded by buildings. The second VL is south of the first,
in a open place.
Support Availability: Dropships and Normal and Large Artillery Barrage.
Extra Unit Availability: Light Trooper, Recon Terradyne, Combat Engineer
Weather Description: cloudy, with a hint of rain just after you start to move
from the base. It won't last long, though.
Walkthrough:
Although Sarge Rho will be on-map, it will act as a neutral unit, not under
your direct comand. He will place himself on the sout tower and will
automatically shoot at everything coming within range.
As soon as you get command of the Light Troopers near the LZ, move them at the
base entranceto fend off incoming Terran attacks.
As soon you have enough Resource Points, deploy a Combat Engineer and repair
the two Shrike-5 cannons near the entrace, and move a single Trooper inside of
them to have them on your side. These cannons are premiere anti-Terradyne
weapons, the rest of your Troopers will have to fend off any infantry attack.
In any case, don't let any of the attackers near the LZ.
You'll also have to destroy two Imperial Destroyer Terradynes with your
Troopers, by using their secondary mode (AT weapons); probably one will enter
the lower Shrike-5's weapon range, so you'll only have to flank the remaining
Terradyne to strike at its sides with your AT weapons; the Terradyne won't ever
fire back, so it will be a very easy task.
Now to the enemy LZ, defended by 5 Legionnaires. Order a couple of Light
Troopers or a pair of Recon Terradynes to take care of them, and be sure to
bring your Combat Engineer and use its secondary mode to heal all your firing
units while fighting.
As you have captured the LZ, you can order an other pair of Recon Terradynes or
five other Troopers.
By using the Recon Terradynes' secondary mode (stealth mode), highlight all
Legionnaires hiding in building to the first VL and take them out with your
Troopers. You can also de-cloack the Guardians to obtain some fire-support from
them.
As you capture the first LZ, the computer will inform you of the off-map
attacks.
Use a single Guardian in stealth mode to scout where the Legionnaires are most
concentrated and order a Large Artillery Barrage to take them out, then move in
all your forces to exterminate any resistance.
De-briefing: Captain Angelus has been recalled to New Darwin for active combat
duty.
--------------------------
--NORTHERN STAR ALLIANCE--
--------------------------
Name: RAT CATCHER
Briefing:
A strange object, probably an unmanned recon pod, detached from a Terran
spaceship, fell in New Darwin City and smashed through two buildings before
stopping its fall.
The situation in the city is almost desperate, NSA forces are engaging Terran
units in every part of the city. The object should be really important, as
Empress Vlaana is devoting resources for its retrieval. You objective is to
trieve it first and denying her this object.
Starting units:
+ 9 Light Troopers
Primary Objectives:
+ Capture the Unmanned Capsule
+ Repel Dracus' Assault Force
Secondary Objectives:
+ Conquer VL at Loengard Square
+ Conquer VL at Toll Road 4
Map Description: Your initial force is located in the south. The unmanned pod
is located in the northwest; Toll Road is the VL on the pod's right while
Loengrad square is in the south, one or two clicks from you starting position.
The whole map is filled by buildings and several roads have blockades, making
somewhat difficult for vehicles to travel. There's a river running through the
map, but you'll hardly notice it; you'll have to cross a bridge to enter the
city, which is the only real spot without cover for your infantry.
Support Availability: no Dropships or Off-Map Attacks.
Extra Unit Availability: none
Weather Description: cloudy, no rain.
Walkthrough:
Start by moving your units north of your starting position, as quickly as
possible and order them to take cover in one of buildings near the other end of
the bridge. There will be some Legionnaires in the buildings in the area and
soon a Light Hoverdyne with four additional Legionnaires will appear from the
east. Quickly order your Troopers to attack the Light Hoverdyne with AT weapons
(secondary mode) and then take out the Legionnaires. During this attack, or
shortly after, Major Grant will send you 3 Light Troopers and 3 Recon
Terradynes. They will enter the map from the west and will be under your
command as soon as you recieve Grant's communication.
Group all your units and proceed toward Loengard Square by plcing your Troopers
in buildings while the Guardians scout the area in stealth mode.
Loengard Square is defended by 3 Terran infantry units right on the VL marker
plus other two in the building to the east. Additional 3 infantry units will
move from the north once their comrades will be under attack, so place your
Troopers in one building to the south while your Guardians offer fire support;
now conquer the VL to recieve an additional Recon Terradyne (it will appear in
the east part of the map, just as the previous reinforcments).
Now move toward Toll Road 4. Just follow the road, ordering your Troopers to
advance by hopping from a building to an other while your Guardians scout the
area while in stealth mode. There should be no Terran soldier if not near the
second VL, which will be even easier to conquer then Loengard Square; you'll
recieve an other Guardian as reward.
Once both VLs are under your control and you have grouped all your units, move
toward the primary objective, the unmanned pod.
This location is lightly protected by a couple of Legionnaires, you'll have no
problem to conquer this location, but just after that, Dracus, the local Terran
commander will order you to leave the area or face immediate destruction. You
have little choice, defend the location at all costs. Major Grant will send you
additional 5 Recon Terradynes (this time they will enter area where you
started). Move your Troopers in the buildings "guarding" the only entrance to
the crash site, facing north and east and order them to use their AT weapons;
cloack your Guardians and place them just outside the VL and wait for the
Terrans.
They will come from the east, and they will reclaim Toll Road before arriving.
The Terran retaliatory force is composed by one Assault Hoverdyne and six
Legionnaires. Destroy the Hoerdyne first, by letting all your Troopers shooting
with everything they have and by decloacking the Guardians at pointblank range,
then target the Legionnaires (revert the Troopers to primary mode and if
necessary make them exit the buldings).
De-briefing:
Major Grant congratulates you, but General Warhust wants you immediately at
Fort Parker.
Name: CALLING THE SHOTS
Briefing:
In a private message to Alice McNeal, Angelus tells her that when he was
garrisoning the borders all he dreamt about was an hot shower and he and his
men spent months without action. Now he takes a shower everyday to wash away
the blood of the soldiers died under his command.
General Warhust wants to push the Terran further from the capital, eradicating
their presence from Gideon's Landing. Captain Angelus, Lieutenant LaCroix and
Major Grant will stage a combined attack to beach defenses first and then to
the base itself.
Starting units:
+ 18 Light Troopers
+ 3 Light APCs
Primary Objectives:
+ Conquer all VL and LZ on the beach
+ Conquer the Terran base
Secondary Objectives:
none
Map Description: the lowest part of the map is dominated by a beach, filled
with various bunkers and several Anti-Infantry turrets. The zone is heavily
defended by standard Legionnaires and Light Hoverdynes, plus few Striders. The
main base is separated from the beach by a deep chasm and can be only reached
through two bridges, positioned on the west and east; a third bridge connect
the east part to the base. The base has several buildings, plus two AT turrets
and one Anti-Infantry turrets, placed near the two entrances. LZs are located
in the base itself, to the north of your starting position (east part of the
map) and on the opposite side. Five VLs are spread throughout the beach, plus
two located north of the bridges. There are at least two bunkers near each VL
(except the norther-most ones). Terrain is hilly and favors the defenders,
though thick forests will help your Infantry in taking additional cover.
Support Availability: Dropships but no Off-Map Attacks
Extra Unit Availability: Light Trooper, Light APC, Recon Terradyne
Weather Description: it will rain for few minutes in the beginnng, then will
get sunny.
Walkthrough:
Immediately move all your Troopers near the Anti-Infantry turrets and have them
fire a salvo of AT rockets at them to quickly disable one, then move and attack
an other turret; a single salvo from 16 Troopers should be enough to take care
of a single turret, but it it's still operational, continue to fire in primary
mode: normal rounds will do considerably less damae, but they will finish the
turret off. There is a total of 6 turrets in the area you have been assigned,
and they all have to come down before moving on.
Repeat this tactic with all turrets in the area and move toward the VL north of
your starting location. Although there will be four Legionnaires in the bunker
east to it, they will flee after a brief skirmish, rather than fightin to the
death. You also might want to upgrade the Dropship's weapon systems right now:
in this map, the enemy will continue to attack you and will send reinforcments
from all LZs still under their control, and a powerful Dropship will help you
in defending the captured LZs. Be sure to order the Dropship to stay at the LZ
as long as possible to have additional firepower if needed. Armor won't be a
problem, it's impossible that the enemy will assemble a strike team strong
enough to destroy the Dropship.
The first LZ is protected by few Legionnaires situated in a bunker to the east
and to the south. Your Troopers won't have any problems in taking care of them;
there is also a Rocket Strider patrolling the area, as well as a Light
Hoverdyne and an Anti-Infantry turret; the turret will probably the hardest nut
to crack; remember to use AT rockets to deliver a strong punch, then
immediately switch to primary mode and move to the target's weak side and fire
at it without hesitation.
Once the LZ is under control, Grant and LaCroix will begin to order Light
Troopers; this won't affect your Acquisition Points but they will delay your
Dropships; also, these units won't be under your direct command and they will
only move toward the VLs and LZs on the beach, entering bunkers if necessary to
defend them; unfortunately, they won't swith to secondary mode when attacking
or being attacked by vehicles, so you might need to support them a little.
Notice that the enemy will always try to recapture all locations, no matter
what.
Now systematically capture all four VLs left on the beach and be sure to have
at least two full groups of Light Troopers before invading the second LZ.
Be sure that this LZ will have Dropships come by all the time, often carrying
Light Hoverdynes and Legionnaires and I've seen it drop an Heavy Hoverdyne
once. Defenses on this base are also tight: an Anti-Infantry turret covers the
left flank, helped by a bunker and your units won't have an easy time passing
through the forest on the right site for an assault. However, the forest is the
weak point of this base, as you'll have additional cover and you won't be an
easy target for the defenders. If you want, you can wait that either Grant or
LaCroix send some of their men to assault the base to have additional
firepower. Don't bother attacking the enemy Dropship: you still don't have
enough firepower to bring it down.
Once all VLs and LZs on the beach are secure, move your main assault force to
the west and let it cross the bridge, killing all opposition; you can also move
all your men you placed in the bunkers to guard the east-most bridge, as most
Terran reinforcments will pass on that bridge. Do not push too forward on that
bridge or you'll alert the defenders; it is not imperative to conquer the
lastest VLs but you are free to do it if you want: just be prepared for an
intense firefight on the east.
The Terran base is protected on the west by an Anti-Infantry turret and a
Legionnaire atop of an observation tower; the north entrance is protected by an
AT turret and an other Legionnaire on an observation tower. There's a second AT
turret near the final LZ which you'll have to engage plus a Rocket Strider;
expect some Legionnaires and Dropships.
Attacking from the west is the most straight-forward option, and probably the
best, as you won't have to deal with two AT turrets. A combined strike from 2
full groups of Trooper will be enough to take care of both Anti-infantry and AT
turrets, nor Legionnaires will be a problem against such massive firepower.
Once the LZ falls under your control, mission will be over.
De-briefing:
Major Grant rejoices as Gideon's Landing is back to NSA control and that he won
the stake with Warhust. Warhust cuts the comm and orders everyone to get back,
something big is about to happen.
Name: SMELLS LIKE VICTORY
Briefing:
Telling his wife what happened, Grant praises the new captain and that Warhust
still hasn't paid the debt. Closing the message, Grant also tells about
something big that will change the situation.
Your mission is to capture or kill Empress Vlaana herself, located in the
Goran-5 base; she was inspecting her troops but her shuttle broken down and
she's now at the base until the shuttle is repaired.
Starting units:
+ 24 Light Troopers
+ 8 Siege Soldiers
+ 1 Combat Engineer
Primary Objectives:
+ Establish an Operation Base
+ Capture or Kill Empress Vlaana
+ Cross the Bridge
Secondary Objectives:
+ Capture the Radar Station
+ Capture another LZ
+ Disable Perimeter Defenses
Map Description: Hilly terrain, with several valleis connected by a net of
bridges, especially in the northwest part. East and southeast parts are mostly
beaches. A Radar Station is in the east-most peninsula. An energy station is in
the south. The main base in the northwest corner, heavy protected by turrets
and atop of a hill that really help the defenders in their job.
There are four LZs: one northwest from your starting position, one between the
previous LZ and the Terran base and one just outside the base, to the north.
The first LZ is protected by two SAM sites and two bunkers. The bridge you'll
ahve to cross to take the second LZ is protected by three Flamethrower turrets
and some bunkers.
Support Availability: Dropships, no Off-Map attacks
Extra Unit Availability: Light Troopers, Siege Soldiers, Light APCs, Recon
Terradyne, Combat Engineers
Weather Description: large clouds will randomly darken the battlefield for few
seconds; no rain.
Walkthrough:
Well, if you played the demo you already know the mission, although you won't
have Raptor or Artillery support. It's not as bad as it can sound as you still
have Siege Soldiers.
Begin to move all your units to the forest to the east, taking care of the
Legionnaires you'll encounter. Place your Siege Soldiers as vanguard and move
toward the first LZ passing through the forests; kill any unit within range and
be sure to disable both SAM sites, or the Dropship will have an hard time
delivering reinforcments. The second site is on the hill south of the LZ, near
a bunker; on the oppisite side, a couple of Legionnaires stand still near some
explosive crates; although it's impossible to aim the crates directly, a missed
shot will ignite them, making short work of both Legionnaires.
Repair all your units and order as many Siege Soldiers you can, then send them
to the Radar Station on the peninsula; there are only 5 Legionnaires (all
grouped near the Radar itself) and one Light Hoverdyne defending the station,
they fill fall easily against concentrated fire.
Once the Radar is under your control, leave 6 Light Troopers to the current LZ,
heal your men and head slowly toward the second LZ. You'll notice that the
bridges here are protected by Flamethrower turrets, which are able to literally
roast any kind of infantry in seconds; use your Siege Soldiers in primary mode
to take them out at range, anything else won't work (no, mass-attacking turrets
is not a good idea).
Capture the second LZ, then split your troops: send the Siege Soldiers toward
the main Terran base while 6 Light Troopers go for the south LZ. Leave any
excess unit guarding the LZ.
As soon as the Ogres cross the bridge, Saergent Rho will alert you that the
base is defended by 4 Pulverizer turrets; the easiest and safest way to disable
them is to destroy the energy station near the southermost LZ. The energy
station is lightly defende, with only seven Legionnaires patrolling the area.
One of these Legionnaires is standing on a observation tower north of the
station, and it's the most dangerous of the group due to its better line of
sight. When the last Legionnaires has been dispatched, attack the energy
station (the large well-like structure using the water at the bottom of the
valley) and when it's destroyed, move all your Light Troopers to the second LZ.
There's no reason in attacking the third LZ as the enemy will employ some time
in gathering enough forces to attack you and to track you down.
Now that the defenses are gone, move your Siege Soldiers (if you want, or you
need them , call other Soldiers down) toward the base. There will be a very
light resistance from the few Legionnaires in the bunkers and on the
observation towers, though a couple of Striders are patrolling the area. Once
you have reached the base entrance, be sure to capture the LZ and call down any
reinforcment you need to, and if you do, be sure to order the Dropship to stay
on site as long as possible...though it's not necessary, additional firepower
is always appreciated. As the LZ falls into your hands, Saergent Rho says he
has a weird feeling about the situation, he'd have expected a lot more
resistance if Vlaana was there...
Move your units to the last VL, inside the base to complete the mission.
De-briefing:
There's no trace of Vlaana, and Angelus is sure that she hasn't slip by. Grant
suggests that she wasn't here at all, and played both commanders as fools. A
priority message comes from New Darkin, uncoded: Alice McNeal alert all NSA
untis that New Darwin has lost its defensive shield and is under heavy enemy
attack and heavy bombardment.
Name: FALLING DOWN
Briefing:
the shields protecting the NSA cities are generated by various stations within
the city perimeters. They use a controlled megnetic-pulse beam that enlarges at
a pre-determined altitude. All vehicles, guided projectiles or objects with
electronic devices are rendered inoperative and destroyed if they come in touch
with the shield; shield are combined with anti-nuclear, bacteriological and
other mass-destruction weapons, but are useless at ground levels, as they will
make NSA technology useless, so planetary defenses have been designed to repel
such attacks.
Vlaana used her shuttle as a bait to lure from the capital the best troops;
captain Angelus and major Grant have been assigned to the Nova Legia sector,
where Shield Node 69 is down; Grant's wife lives in this residential block.
Map Description: Large city, composed by 5 large blocks connected by a series
of bridges. The largest block contains 4 VLs and two LZs. The northmost LZ is
under your control and it's your starting point. The three VLs on the top
corner of the map are protected by three Shrike-5 turrets each and are your
secondary objective; note that at least one for each group of turrets is
active, so it won't be shown on map.
South of your starting position, on a small island, there's a VL with the
Shield Node; there are 4 inactive SAM sites sorrounding the Node and two
Anti-Infantry turrets protect the bridge.
The second LZ is protected by two other Anti-Infantry turrets and unlikely the
one you start with, isn't sorrounded by any buildings, making impossible to be
ambushed by Legionnaires. Right to this LZ there's a VL guarding a long bridge
which connect the mainland with the residential block; there are no turrets
protecting the bridge or turrets inside this area.
Later on, a LZ will be created in the east part of the residential block, plus
four VLs place near the docks (north), the main residential palaces (west),
near a bridge connecting the palaces to the rest of the map ("center") and one
located in a small square (or what remains of it...east).
The east part has no place of interest.
Support Availability: Dropships and Smoke Screen Off-Map Attack
Extra Unit Availability: Light Troopers, Snipers, Siege Soldiers, Light APCs,
Recon Terradynes, Combat Engineers, Liberators, all deployable turrets.
Weather Description: some clouds, but no rain.
Walkthrough:
OK, things start to get interesting. You have a good choice of units, including
long-range Snipers and assault units like Liberators and Siege Soldiers. The
map is full of enemies and things will begin to heat up from this mission.
Once you have command of your troops, immediately put the Snipers and Combat
Engineer in secondary mode; group the Light Troopers and move the Liberator
next to the Snipers; cloack the Guardians and put them on the LZ's left side.
The Terrans will attack soon, with a good quantity of Legionnaires and even a
couple of Rocket Striders. There are two Light Hoverdynes near the VL behind
you, use your Liberator to lure them within Sniper range and destroy them.
Once the first attack has been repelled, move your Snipers inside the building
south of your position (note that it's the building right on top of your LZ,
the camera angle is flipped, so what you see on the top edge of the screen is
south), facing the depot; they will be able to heavily damage or destroy even
vehicles. Leave the Troopers near the LZ and if the Snipers need help, move
them to support.
Now order as many Siege Soldiers you can; if you want, you can also order
Liberators, but they cost a lot more and Siege Soldiers will work just
fine...for this mission, a group of 16 Liberators or about 16 Siege Soldiers
will work fine: considering you have already a Combat Engineer, you'll be able
to advance while repairing your units. Siege Soldiers are also better suited
than Terradynes in urban combat as they can take cover in buildings.
With the first VL under your control, move your main force toward the second
and last LZ the Terrans can use to bring down reinforcments; these
reinforcments will usually be a group of three A4 Combat Striders, so keep your
force together and concentrate fire on a single target rathern than letting
your unit aim what they want.
The LZ is protected by two Anti-Infantry cannons plus one Destroyer Hoverdyne.
Expect a Dropship to come by and deliver some units near it, but it won't
really pose a problem.
Without LZs Terrans won't be able to call down reinforcments, so begin to sweep
the upper part of the city before going to the Shield Node. There are very few
Legionnaires in the area, and there is only one active Shrike-5 turret in the
secondary VLs, so you might want to call down a couple of Liberators (if you
are relying on Siege Soldiers) to quickly take care of the two spots while your
Siege Soldiers reach the bridge connecting the island where the Shield Node is
and take out the two Anti-Infantry turrets guarding it, but don't cross the
bridge yet.
It is now time to move all your forces except three or four Light Troopers near
the VL north of the bridge connecting the residential block to the mainland.
The east part of the city offers a single Destroyer Hoverdyne as prey, take it
out if you want.
Once all of your units not taking part in the attack at the Shield Node have
reached their position, begin the attack. The isle is protected by two Rocket
Striders, one Destroyer Hoverdyne and one Legionnaire, easy preis for Siege
Soldiers in secondary mode.
Once all enemies are gone, repair the two Anti-Infantry turrets and place one
Light Trooper inside each turret and the third in the SAM site nearest to the
Node. Move your main assault force to the VL where your other forces are
waiting and only after they are there repair the Node.
If you have lost your Combat Engineer and cannot earn enough Acquisition Points
to call down a second vehicle, the bridge connecting the residetial bloack and
the mainland offers 4 Destroyer Hoverdynes and two Legionnaires, enough to call
down what you need.
Once the Node is repaired, Major Grant will order you to join forces and repel
all what's left of the Terrans in the city; the rendez-vous point is the VL
near the now-famous residential block bridge; if you already conquered the VL
and destroyed the Terran units on the bridge itself, the next event will be
automatically triggered, if not, conquer the VL and destroy the Terrans.
Captain Angelus will spot incoming alien pods falling from the shield, which
passed through the shield and landed in the residential block; those things are
not terran, but the Major will go berserk as his wife is in that residential
block; his forces (5 Liberators) won't have an easy time: the things dropped
from the sky are Virons, an alien race that had no contact with the humans for
hundred of years, and it's impossible that the Terrans are using them, as the
Virons are extremly xenophobic...however, Ghall, commander of the assaulters
declares himself as an allied of the Terran Empire.
Immediately move all your forces to the new LZ on the east part of the
residential block: you don't want that the Virons secure an LZ and start to
call down reinforcments. Leave the Recon Terradynes and the Snipers as guard
there while your main force sweep the area, killing any alien it encounters and
conquering the VLs.
Your only opponents will be Viron infantry, but do not underestimate them: the
Prime Clanguards can easily dispatch a Liberators if caught offguard, and the
Infector Clanguard can be a nasty opponent even to Siege Soldiers, although
these units will have less problems than Liberators in dealing with them.
If your force consists in Liberators, switch them to secondary mode and in any
case bring with you a Combat Engineer.
Once the last VL has been taken, the mission is over.
De-briefing:
Although the NSA was able to fend off the Viron attack, little remain of the
residential block. Captain Angelus tries to comfort Major Grant, telling that
his wife could be elsewhere...but Grant knows she was there. Saergent Rho will
come to pick up Angelus as per General Warhust's direct order.
Name: ALL THAT IS DEAR
Briefing:
Few things are known about the Virons. The first contact with this race was
made by the renegade officer Sarah Parker, who violeted their airspace,
probably with the legendary warship "Astrid". Virons are extremely xenophobic
solitary, and the only certain things are that they are biped and use
nano-organic technology. There's an unconfirmed report about fights in the
Ragnarok nebula, probably their homeplanet.
General Warhust wants the captain to defend the xenotechnic lab in the area.
Major Grant has been "delayed" by Vrions in Nova Legia and he's currently
annihilating any resistance.
Map Description: A Large city again, and again there are lots of bridges that
makes difficult to cross for broad formations. The city itself is composed by 5
big isles, plus a little one on the east.
Bridges and VLs (except the inital LZ and the lab) are protected by Shrike-5
Cannons. Every turret doens't need repairs to be manned by an infantry unit,
though a pair of them is under Terran control and you'll need to destroy them
and then repair to use them. There are two allied squads in the west side of
the map that will come in handy.
Support Availability: no Dropships, Smoke Screen Off-Map attack
Extra Unit Availability: none
Weather Description: night operation. Some broken clouds, but otherwise clear.
Walkthrough:
The Dropship has been shoot down by Terran missile fire. There aren't much
chances that Warhust will be able to send you an other Dropship soon, so take
good care of your units.
Board all infantry on your APC and put the Liberators in secondary mode and
have them advance past the bridge, taking out all Viron Clanguards you'll
encounter. Pay attention to these units as they carry AT weapons, which can
make short work of your Terradynes if they flank them. Use your Engineer for
on-the-flight repairs and be sure to have all units in perfect shape before
entering the lab compound. Place all your infantry units on the buildings in
front of the lab in secondary mode and the Liberators just outside the gates:
soon the Terrans will send a light attack force.
Now enter the lab compound; Alice McNeal will greet captain Angelus and will
instruct him to take the VIP transport to the Mannerheim tunnel, on the other
side of the city; the transport carries the key to the NSA survival, and must
not fall under enemy hands or be destroyed.
All units within the lab compound will be put under your command, Field Sensor
aside (which is also basically useless, leave it be); there are 2 Liberators, 8
Light Troopers, a Light APC, 2 Combat Engineers and 2 Recon Units. Once the
first Terran strike has been fended off, repair your units, group them and
board all infantry on the APCs. Don't leave anyone behind.
Move to the west, where the map signals allied units. Bring an Engineer near
them to add to your task force an other Liberator and 3 Light Troopers. Move
two or these men in the Shrike-5s nearby and advance to the north, to meet a
second group of allied unit; this time they are 3 Light Troopers and one Combat
Engineer, cut away from Major Grant's main force. Move two units in the
Shrike-5 turrets on the other side of the bridge and use all units capable of
firing (APC and Recon Terradynes aside) toward the VL right to your position,
and take care of the Terran units there. Two A4 Striders and 1 Destroyer
Hoverdyne are guarding this location, should be a piece of cake. Note that
there's an active Shrike-5, be sure not to enter its firing range before having
dispatched all unit. Now, repair all units and the disabled turret and place 6
Light Troopers in the six Shrike-5 cannons. This is very important. Soon, the
Virons will appear on map, first by capturing your first (and only) LZ, then
following your tracks to your current position; as they will use Terradynes
this time, these six emplacements will buy you some time while you run toward
the tunnel.
Also, if you plan to use the bridge north of the one you crossed, it's
impossible, so you basically have to go through all VLs (and Terran defenses)
to reach the tunnel.
Once all repairs are done, move your usual assault group to the second VL to
take care of the units there; this time it will be harder: four A4 Striders and
one Destroyer Hoverdyne preside the place and there's an active Shrike-5
cannon. You'll need all the firepower you have, plus at least one Shrike-5
cannon to overcome this situation; move one Light Trooper to the nearest
emplacement and commence your attack.
As usual, repair all units and turrets and fill them with Light Troopers to
slow down (or stop...it's highly probable that the Virons will have an hard
time against the first line of defense, though they will be able to pass) the
pursuers.
Now, the last VL before the tunnel. If you have lost all your Liberators, move
two infantry units to the two cannons on the other side of the bridge, and try
to sneak one unit to a third cannon near the bridge facing north: one Destroyer
Hoverdyne and one A4 Strider won't be enough to kill two turrets, and the 2
APCs there will prefer to fleet if they are under fire. If you haven't any
Liberator, you might want to order your unit to speed through this area while
the cannons lay support fire.
Now reach the tunnel, lightly defended by a couple of Legionnaires in a
building (even your Guardians will be able to kill them in few shots) and one
Destroyer Hoverdyne. A second Hovedyne patrols the area, but it shouldn't be a
problem. Once the tunnel VL is secured, mission is over.
Doc Oc (anonymous@anonymousland.com) says:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
"You can clean out the entire map and capture all command points using just the
raptor sniper you get at the start. The trick is to NOT rendezvous with Alice
at the start. It takes a lot of patience to wait for the sniper to kill off the
enemy vehicles, but he can. I did use normal infantry to capture a turret and
help kill off the turrets that red controls, because snipering those takes
*really* long. Before I did the rendezvous, the entire map -and all turrets on
it- where under my control. After that, it was a simple matter of meeting up
with Alice and fleeing with the VIP transport while the turrets slow down the
Viron task force. At the end, the sniper was level 5 and I had about 30k
credits."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
De-briefing:
Alice can't reveal too much about the nature of the good Jacob protected, she
only tells him it's of historical nature and it's the only option left now that
the Virons are allied with the Terrans. Warhust cuts in and tells the captain
it's a strict need-to-know information, orders him to get some rest as there
will be soon an other mission.
Name: SILENT WOLF
Briefing:
Saergent Rho has sucessfully infiltrate into the GenNet and discovered that the
previous mysterious object was from the Ragnarok nebula, and was about
singularity propulsion hyper engine or something similar, which seems to be old
and dangerous.
Warhust has a special assignment for captain Angelus and his men: to colelct
more information about Viron culture, as little is known, aside that they
follow a strict code of honor.
There's a Terran base on Rhenan island and Saergent Rho and few other men will
have to infiltrate to gather some intelligence.
Starting units:
+ 2 Snipers
+ Saergent Rho
Primary Objectives:
+ Lure a Terran Engineer
+ Steal an Engineering Vehicle
+ Infiltrate into the base
+ Enter in the database building
+ Disable Anti-Ait Defenses
+ Evac Rho
+ Rho must survive
Secondary Objectives:
none
Map Description: hilly terrain, with several wood where to hide your men. Your
starting point is near the upper-left corner of the map, inside a small valley
flanked by two forest. South of your position there is a neutral Radar Station,
protected halfway between it and your starting point by a bunker. The center of
the map is dominated by the main energy station, connected, accessible via two
bridges positioned north and west. On the station's right side thre is a
vehicle depot with an unmanned Engineering Hoverdyne, reading to be stolen.
The Terran main base is located on the lower edge of the map, though the
external gates are located few meters south of the energy station.
The database building is at the bottom of the map, protected by a laser fence.
On the right there are some canisters and a strange alien structure. Left side
is dominated by 6 SAM sites, their energy station and a lonely building.
Support Availability: no Dropships or Off-Map Attacks
Extra Unit Availability: none
Weather Description: your unit will much furhter concealed by a rainstorm from
the beginning to the mission till you'll infiltrate the enemy base. The
rainstorm will resume during the last part of the mission.
Walkthrough:
Whoooo, Dark Conspirancy's mission 8 revisited. Fortunately enough it's not
that difficult and it's actually enjoyable.
Remember that all your units cannot withstand heavy fire (although Rho is much
thouger than standard Raptors), so always take cover in forests and in the
shadows created by the terrain. The enemies in this missions aren't smart
enough to call reinforcments if under attack, and most will remain where they
are even if being attacked, making long-range attacks by Raptors possible.
Begin to move in the forest south east of your starting point, then passing
through the forest north of it. You'll spot a group of 9 Legionnaires and one
A4 Strider standing still. Quietly kill all Legionnaires then concentrate fire
on the Strider; do this at maximum range possible (the big rock sprouting from
the forest is a good landmark to remember the Raptor's maximum range), then
continue to move east until you spot an other A4 Strider with a Legionnaire
halfway from your position and the eastern vehicle depot; take them out, then
move all your units toward the energy station and destroy it.
An Engineering Hoverdyne will come to check what's going on: destroy it and
then move all your units to the Hoverdyne in the vehicle depot. Rho will drive
it, board the to Raptors and trace back your steps to the energy station and
pass the base external gates.
The guard will stop you asking where's your escort, but after a brief
discussion, he will let you pass.
All your units will then be "teleported" to the base itself, bypassing the
Pulverizer turrets and all guards.
Move your units along the ridge on the east and be prepared to kill a pair of
Legionnaires on you way. Rho will also report about several canisters
containing Zethan-12, a harmless gas extraced from planetary cores.
Now enter the database building; Rho will have an easy time cracking the
security code and will download the entire database; just as he finishes,
captain Angelus will report something approaching, and Saergent Rho will
recognize the units as Empress Vlaana's personal guard; it's impossible even to
leave a little "surprise" for the Empress, so Rho is ordered to take out all
Anti-Air defenses to let Angelus slip an Helidyne in and evacute.
The various SAM sites are an easy task to destroy: exit the database building
and proceed west; you'll spot few crates sorrounding a power station; the
crates are explosive and this time are targettable. Shot once at one of them to
see the energy station explode, the proceed toward the building north of the
SAM sites and wait for the Helidyne.
De-briefing:
Rho gathered lots of data, and the important ones are under useless one.
Warhust will have dr. McNeal create a report that will be passed to Angelus as
soon it's ready.
Name: RAW DEAL
Briefing:
Interstellar merchants rise to power after the fall of corporations and during
the first interstellar war. First they were outlaws, but know they can act
without risks; to someone they are saviours, to others pirates. They do not
take sides, as "a costumer is just a costumer". They deal with everyone, but
once there's a contract, they fullfill it no matter what.
Angelus has been dispatched to the Kiatshian sector to retrieve a shipment from
the merchants, a cargo full of Mobile Artilleries, and the captain must collect
the payload without delay. Such a cargo ship cannot enter the atmosphere
undetected, so the merchant, Hervon Dreznor has already landed to secure an LZ
in the Roras-5 base for the cargo ship; sensors have picked up incoming Viron
dropships to reinforce the already existin Terran blockade.
Starting units:
+ 4 Light Troopers
+ 2 Snipers
+ 2 Siege Soldiers
+ 2 Recon Terradynes
+ 1 Light APC
+ 2 Liberators
Primary Objectives:
+ Meet Hervon Dreznor
+ Defend Hervon Dreznor and his group
+ Capture all LZs.
+ At least on Howitzer must survive
Secondary Objectives:
none
Map Description: Roras-5 base is at the center of the map, on a open plain.
There are several building defining the base perimeter, including pillboxes,
observation towers and a single Shrike-5 cannon facing north.
Your starting point is in the south west, on a small hill. The Virons will set
up three LZs at the top edge of the map, all of them atop of hills.
Support Availability: Dropships, Smoke Screen and Battle Probe.
Extra Unit Availability: All infantry units, all vehicles, Liberators, Light
Helidynes and all deployable turrets.
Weather Description: there will be some snow that will slow down your units in
the beginning, but this won't last much; the clouds will vanish to let the sun
shine for the rest of the mission.
Walkthrough:
Board your infantry units on the APC and head toward the neutral LZ where
Hervon and his men are waiting. As you close to the LZ, Virons will launch a
light attack against the base's east side, so move your Liberators to reinforce
that sector while you unload you men and to obtain maximum firepower; order as
many Liberators as possible and be sure that the Dropship will stay on site to
help repelling a second Viron attack, coming from the same sector. Hervon tells
you that if the attack isn't stopped he won't deliver his goods, and will even
order the ship to leave orbit if you don't this soon...don't panic, even your
starting Liberators plus the base defenses will be able to withstand this
second wave.
Once Hervon has delievered the Artillery tanks, they will be placed under your
command. Immediately move your Snipers atop of the two observation towers,
facing north; do the same with your Siege Soldiers, placing them in the forward
pillboxes to the north. Place a Light Trooper inside the Shrike-5 cannon and
all remaining Troopers in various buildings; be sure to concentrate your forces
on the north side and place all of them in secondary mode. Order an other batch
of Liberators plus one Combat Engineer and place all your tanks near the north
defenses; move the Artillery tanks on the west side and put them in secondary
mode. Cloack your Guardians and place one at each side of the passageway north
of the base; if you haven't understood, the Virons will attack in force from
that place. Do not order anything else than Liberators: although Rocket
Terradynes can supply impressive long-range firepower, you'll need more
protection than firepower for now; Siege Soldiers will work fine too, unless
the enemy will deploy Corruptor Centruroids...and be sure there will be such
tanks, which are capable of killing any type of infantry almost instantainly.
So stick to Liberators now and be prepared for an onslaught. Note that at least
one Howitzer must survive, even if the game doens't tell you a thing about that.
Immediately issue your Mobile Artilleries to lay down suppressive fire in this
area (CTRL+right mouse button); Guardians will come in handy to spot incoming
Viron units if you want "precision" fire; be sure to order Liberators when you
can, until you have 16 of them. Basically, the Virons will throw at you
whatever they have, so replacing and repair units will be top priority until
all waves have been eliminated. You'll notice that you'll be able to advance
very slowly as the Virons attack and when there are no more units in sight,
repair and replace all your losses, including base denfeders. Place your
Artillery tanks inside the defensive perimeter and then go for the first Viron
LZ in the north-west edge of the map. You'll encounter very few Virons units
now, most probably a pair of Prime Clanguards and one Gun Centruroid; as you
approach the zone, Ghall, Vicath of Clan Kre'haz will inntimate you to
surrender and that you'll be treated with honor...don't even listen to him,
push ahead at full speed to evade artillery fire from two Mortar Centruroids
place where the LZ is. Once the LZ is under your control, call down a Dropship
with three or four Siege Soldiers and place them in secondary mode to guard the
LZ; repair your Liberators (you shouldn't have any more lossed for the rest of
the mission) and head for the second LZ, and again move fast to kill at short
range the two Mortar Centruroids protecting the LZ. Call down again Siege
Soldiers to guard the LZ and move to the final LZ, this time totally
unprotected.
De-briefing:
Ghall tells that this was an excellent battle, and will look forward to the
next encouter with Angelus.
Warhust will alert the captain that Dropships are on their way to recover him
and the newly acquired Artillery tanks, complaining about the lost tanks.
Angelus won't return to New Darwin soon, instead he will be sent to Kronenber
Vault.
Name: SNOW DRIFT
Briefing:
The Virons' homeworld athmosphere was composed by Zethan and when the Imperials
invaded their homeworld they used toxins that destroyed all Zethan. Virons were
then obliged to leave their plane tand live in gigantic ClanShips and live as
nomads. Terrans have been using them as slaves in exchange of Zethan and have
established large extraction plants on Karrea-4 and Krig-7B.
The NSA Intel intercepted a distress call from a convoy in this region. It was
a top-priority call, so its cargo must be very valuable: Angelus will have to
retrieve it, whatever it is.
An Imperial recovery squad in on the way from the Lonen alley, and Warhust
suggests it is a good place to ambush to later retrieve the cargo. LaCroix is
already onsite preparing an LZ.
Starting units:
+ 4 Snipers
+ 4 Siege Soldiers
+ 4 Liberators
+ 2 Mobile Artilleries
+ 1 Light APC
Primary Objectives:
+ Block Terran recovery squad
+ Capture the convoy
+ Move the Virons to the LZ
Secondary Objectives:
+ Reach LaCroix
Map Description: There's a small round valley with a single exit on the north.
LaCroix's forces are located in a small crater at the center of the map, with
only three exits, on to the southeast and two on the north. The convoy is on
the west side of the map, directly south of your starting location; it is
possible to reach the convoy by crossing a bridge, but the position heavily
defended by Imperial forces, with three AT cannons, bukers and mobile units.
Imperials will also set up an LZ directly east to the one LaCroix will prepare.
Support Availability: Dropships, Smoke Screen and Light Artillery Barrage.
Extra Unit Availability: All infantry units, all vehicles, Liberators, Light
Helidynes and all deployable turrets
Weather Description: there will be a snowstorm in the beginning, but it won't
last long. It will randomly snow throughout the mission, but there won't any
other storms.
Walkthrough:
Move both Mobile Artilleries where LaCroix is, near the eastern wall, and place
them in secondary mode. Board your infantry on the APC and move all your
remaining units to the marker set on the small circular valley on the north.
Soon, a group of two Destroyer Hoverdynes, 2 Light Hoverdynes and two Howitzers
will enter from the west area of the valley. Use your Liberators and Siege
Soldiers to make short work of them: Liberators should be used to kill the
Howizters while you maneuver the Siege Soldiers to kill the remaining units.
Once all of these units are gone, LaCroix would have finished to prepare the
LZ...your Mobile Artilleries should be already there, ready to defend the LZ
from incoming attacks; move at once all your units on the LZ and order some
Liberators.
Avoid to move your forces away from the LZ, the Imperials will soon launch a
large-scale attack, probably two separate groups of Destroyer Hoverdynes and A4
Combat Striders; LaCroix forces will usually spot them first, allowing you to
lay suppressive fire with your Artilleries.
Once those two attacks are fended off, move your Liberators near the crash
site, which will be lightly defended by Legionnaires.
As you reach them, Angelus will find out that the precious cargo is composed by
Virons from Clan Hroag; Drahk'Mar, Vicath of this Clan will tell that Clan
Hroag isn't allied with the Empire and sworn vengeance against Ghall and all
Virons who united with the Empire; him and other fellow Hroag Virons were
enroute to Ghall's main base for execution, as they rose against Ghall and the
Terran Empire; even if Angelus doesn't trust them, Warhurst orders him to
escort them at the LZ and will dispatch three Transport Helidynes.
Order each Helidyne to load one crate (one Helidyne will remain empty) and move
them to the LZ.
De-briefing:
Clan Hroag is no ally to the Empire. They will give full aid to the NSA from
now on.
Name: ERRAND BOY
Briefing:
Without being able to live on their planet, Virons were forced to board
gigantic ClanShips. There are several of these ships, and each ship holds an
entire Clan, which are ruled by elders (Vicaths). So far, only two Clans have
been encountered: Hroag and Kre'Haz. The latter is ruled by Ghall, who
spontaneously allied with the Terran Empire without having to trade their
services for the Zethan. Clan Hroag refused to submit to the Empire and its
Vicath, Drahk'Mar, instigated a rebellion against both the Empire and Ghall,
preferring extintion to enslavement. Ghall has lebeled him and his Clan as
traitors.
Warhurst briefs Angelus on the current situation: Ghall planned the execution
of the whole Hroag Clan, which now is determined to fight alongside the NSA
against their common enemies; as Virons depend on Zethan, a long-term solution
to provide this games is under study, as Morningstarprime's core contains
Zethan in abundance. The captain's mission will be to escort Ghall and the
other recaptured Virons to Ni'vahr Tzen to sign a treaty; secondary objective
will be to help Lieutenant LaCroix to defend SK-7 outpost.
Starting units:
+ 4 Light Troopers
+ 4 Liberators
+ 2 Recon Terradynes
+ 2 Combat Engineers
+ 2 Rocket Terradynes
+ 1 Mobile Artillery
+ 1 VIP Transport
Primary Objectives:
+ Escort Drahk'Mar to the base
+ VIP Transport must survive
Secondary Objectives:
+ Protect SK-7
Map Description: the map is composed by three main islands: the first, where
you start, is located in the south-east and is very small. The second is in the
north east, occupied by neutral Virons which are besieged by a small enemy
force, also represented by a VL just outside the base.
The main island contains three LZs and three VLs; two of those VLs are located
in the south-west and represent SK-7 outpost. This area is protected by an
handful of Shriek-5 turrets and there are few friendly troops that will
independently try to defend the area; to save the outpost, at least one VL must
remain into NSA hands throughout the whole mission. The third VL is set on a
small island roughly at the center of the map, connected to the primary island
through two bridges; north of this VL, protected by some AT turrets and SAM
sites, rests an LZ, which can lead to the Viron base (east) or to the second LZ
of the map, an Imperial stronghold (west). The stronghold is placed atop of a
hill, very well protected by several kinds of turrets, including Scorcher
anti-infantry flamethrowers, Pulverizer cannons and Anti-Missile Defenses;
there are two passageways to reach the LZ itself, one goes west and the other
north. From this LZ is possible to reach SK-7 northest VL by crossing a bridge.
Third LZ is west of your starting position, near a small forest and placed
between the third VL and SK-7' southermost VL.
Support Availability: Dropships and all Off-Map attacks
Extra Unit Availability: All infantry units, all vehicles, Liberators, Light
Helidynes and all deployable turrets
Weather Description: rain will alternate with some broken clouds. There could
be a few sunny moments, however.
Walkthrough:
As soon as the mission begins, Major Grant will cut in. Angelus hopes that he's
here to defend SK-7, but he only wanted to see if it was true that the captain
was baby-sitting " a group of dog faces"; he will remember Angelus that they
were both in Nova Legia when they murdered an entire residential block and will
tell Angelus to kill them; the captain will refuse and Grant will end
communications telling that he became one of Warhurst's dogs.
Move your Light Troopers, Liberators, Guardians and Marauders near the
observation tower guarding the bridge and kill the two Legionnaires in it. On
the other side, Terrans will have already conquered the LZ and will have placed
an Howitzer on the peninsula facing east: immediately move your Light Troopers
on the other side of the bridge to take care of the Legionnaires on the second
observation tower while your Liberators, Guardians and Marauders take care of
all enemy units near the LZ and capture it; there is a mixed group composed by
a Destroyer Hoverdyne, a Missile Strider, Engineering Hoverdyne plus the
already mentioned Howitzer patrolling the area. Now move to your current
location the Combat Engineer and VIP transport and call down as many Liberators
you can to strenghten your assault force. Repair whatever needs repair and
place your Light Troopers on the observation tower near the LZ in secondary
mode. Assign the Recon Terradynes as escort for the VIP Transport and leave
them south of the LZ, near the forest; all Terran attacks will come from north,
and you don't really want the VIP Transport caught in the crossfire (although
the objectives don't specify it, you'll need the VIP Transport alive to end the
mission). Use your Liberators to clear a path to the LZ north of the one you've
just captured; you'll encouter some Destroyer Hoverdynes but they should be a
piece of cake for the Liberator's concentrated firepower. Cross the bridge
north of the VL and take care of the two AT turrets blocking your path and once
at the LZ take care of all active SAM sites and the third AT turret west of it.
Be sure to destroy the Conqueror hoverdyne patrolling the east perimeter of the
island, then repair and call down enough Liberators to create a full group of
16 Terradynes.
Now you can decide to escort the Virons to their base or clear the whole map
from Terran presence and help LaCroix defending SK-7.
To accomplish the first option, simply call the VIP Transport where you are and
escort it to the Viron base: there will be only a token defense before the
alien champ, and it will be easy for your Liberators to destroy anything facing
them. Capturing the VL isn't vital to the primary objective's accomplishment,
just move the VIP Transport near the base and that's it.
The second option is more difficult, but not impossible.
First, as soon Saergent Rho tells that SK-7 has lost its first defense line,
drop some Siege Soldiers and move them were LaCroix's units are to give them
some extra firepower; the Imperials will stage several light/medium attacks,
usually a group of five/six Destroyer Hoverdynes or an equal number of Combat
Striders, but will never mix vehicle types.
Your first LZ will also be subject to light attacks until the north LZ isn't
under your conrol; the Light Troopers will be able to destroy most incoming
threats and if they don't move the VIP Transport and its escort to SK-7' south
VL, especially if there are already some of your men; surely the enemy will
have an harder time destroying the Transport if it's under fire by Siege
Soldiers and LaCroix's troops.
To defend the north LZ, repair two of the three AT cannons you destroyed before
and call down two extra Light Troopers to man them; be sure that the enemy will
think twice before attacking the LZ, especially if you continue to push toward
the last LZ; Warhurst will try to dissuade you from attacking that base, but
it's not as hard as he make sound it. The Terran base is atop of a hill and
protected by three active Pulverizer turrets; the ideal strategy would be to
use Mobile Artilleries to take them out at range but they are shielded by
Anti-Missile turrets, which will block any incoming missile or artillery round,
so just use the brute force of your Liberators to destroy them once for all; at
the fork, don't go west, there are two Pulverizer turrets waiting for you:
combined with the other Terran units protecting the base, your forces will be
totally outnumbered. Instead, go north and destroy the single Pulverizer
turret, which should only damage one of your units; follow the road and kill
the Pulverizer turret guarding the entrance before destroying any other unit,
then enter the base, destroy all SAM sites and capture the LZ.
Warhust will comment that you are either the most brilliant tactician the NSA
has ever had or just insane.
Call down enough Liberators to fill your losses and exit the base to eradicate
the two remaining Pulverizer turrets and any other surviving Terran unit; if
you want, call down three Light Troopers to man three Pulverizer turrets...this
won't matter much, as probably there will be only a couple of Terran untis
alive in the whole map, and will group at the VL outside the Viron base; they
won't attack it, but in my case they were tow Howitzer Hoverdynes that made
some damage to the VIP Transport during the mission's final stage.
Now, this all LZs under your control, move your Liberators and VIP Transport to
the north LZ and go toward the Viron to end the mission.
(note: probably, the mission will automatically end if you conquer all VLs and
LZs on the map, but since this coincided with the VIP Transport reaching the
Viron base, I cannot be sure of this. Also, I don't kwno if there's a time
limit to this mission; once near the final bridge, Drahk'Mar told me that their
Zethan tanks are half-empty, but, again, it coincided with the VIP Transport
reaching the vicinity of the viron base. I'll investigate further on these two
things ASAP).
De-briefing:
the whole Hroag Clan is in debt of "Angelus-captain" and Drahk'Mar tells that
the NSA is truly honorable, not like the Imperialists. Clan Hroag will help
fighting the Terrans to the last breath as soon they are ready.
Name: STEALING BEAUTY
Briefing:
Terrans are hunting down all NSA personnel, Virons are fighting Virons, there
are secret projects probably about Virons and General Warhusts continues only
to shake hands and preaches about duty and principles while Terrans are closer
to annihilate any resistance.
The situation at the MSD-12 research center is critical. Dr. McNeal was
conductiing classified experiments for both the Defense Force and the Research
Department while sensors detected a large Terran assault force coming her way.
Major Grant, who was instructed to defend the base misteriously disappeared and
now the base is with very light defenses: LaCroix is guarding the perimeter but
won't last long without reinforcments. Angelus warns Alice that the base could
have to be evacuated if the situation is desperate.
Starting units:
+ 8 Light Troopers
+ 8 Siege Soldiers
+ 4 Liberators
+ 2 Rocket Terradynes
+ 2 Light APCs
+ 2 Mobile Artilleries
Primary Objectives:
+ Reinforce defenses of MSD-12 research center
+ Defend MSD-12 for 20 minutes
Secondary Objectives:
+ Recapture the Radar Station
Map Description: the map is mostly plain. MSD-12 is located at the center of
the upper edge, protected by concrete walls with three gates on the south, west
and east; two Shrike-5 turrets protect the south gate. Your only LZ is located
roughly in the center of the research center and must not fall into enemy hands
or you'll fail the mission.
The Radar Station is located in the upper right corner of the map, sorrounded
by a tick forest and it's accessile only via a narrow passageway; it's the only
VL of the whole map, too.
Two ridges create an ideal road from the lower-left corner of the map to MSD-12
and a large vulcano dominates the south-east part of the map.
Support Availability: Dropships and all Off-Map attacks
Extra Unit Availability: All infantry units, all vehicles, Liberators, Light
Helidynes and all deployable turrets
Weather Description:
Walkthrough:
OK, this will be just Raw Deal: the Imperials will call down everything they
have to destroy you and LaCroix's forces; and just like that mission, once
weathered the first attacks, you will be able to advance a little to conquer
all LZs, although it would be hard the first time you play this mission. You
won't lose as long as you have the LZ inside the base, so do not overextend
yourself in pursuing attackers or you'll have to do the whole thing again. You
can also ignore the secondary objective, having the Radar Station online won't
give you an edge over the Terrans...in fact, you know were they are.
Begin to board your infantry on the APCs and go for toward the base.
Order your Mobile Artilleries and Rocket Terradynes to stand still near the
Dropship (remember to put Mobile Artilleries in secondary mode) while your
Liberators go to the front gate and help LaCroix fending off the Imperials.
Move the APCs where you want, but place the Siege Soldiers on the right exit
and the Light Troopers on the opposite side, both in secondary mode (I'd like
to know why there are a secondary and tertiary gates in such a small base...oh
well, more problems for you).
Once you arrive at the base, you'll get some extra APs, immediately call down
other two Rocket Terradynes and as many Liberators you can. Wait to call down a
Combat Engineer for now, and be prepared to fend off the second wave of
attackers. General Warhurst will send you 4 Ravagers from the lower-left corner
of the map...they are great in defensive roles, but are extremely slow and do
not expect them to be invicible...also, do not try to use them to take the
nearest LZ...although they are capable of killing every ground vehicle with
concentrated fire, Terrans are preparing a large-scale air assault with their
Attack Helidynes, so Ravagers will be an easy prey for them, and less firepower
for you to defend the base.
About the air assault the Terrans will stage at least twice during the
mission...here's were Rocket Terradynes come in play. Place one or two of them
in secondary mode while the other take out the Helidynes(depending on how many
you have...with four of them, use only one of the as barrier).
Sometime during the mission, Alice McNeal will ask you to protect the base for
at least 20 minutes until he copies her datas onto GenNet encryption database;
she promises a candle-lit dinner for Jacob if he succeeds in defending the
outpost...from now on, expect the Terran to attack with really everything they
have.
Also, you can place your Ravagers as "doors": just place one tank for each side
gate (where you previously placed the artillery), protected by a Rocket
Terradyne and, if possible by a Combat Engineer: by doing this, youll negate
artillery and air strikes against the Ravagers while they destroy everything on
ground and Zappers repair them; use two Ravagers for the front gate. Continue
to call down units (depending on your situation, alternate between Liberators,
Rocket Terradynes and Siege Soldiers...keep at least one Combat Engineer alive
and remember to have the Dropship stay on the LZ as longer as possible to cover
you...also note that LaCroix's Dropships won't fire back at the enemy) and once
the Terran attack seem to be losing strenght, repair your Liberators and a
couple of Rocket Terradynes to see if you are able to take the LZs. Do NOT move
out everything you have, you don't kwno what the Terrans can bring out: just
when I though that with only one LZ, already occupied by Liberators and Rocket
Terradynes and nothing else, they brought down a full cargo of Attack
Helidynes...so, stay sharp.
The LZ themselves are lightly or no defended at all; the westernmost LZ has two
field turrets, the central one a single turret while the easternmost one
nothing...remember, expect units guarding them however.
As the timer hit the 0, mission is over.
De-briefing:
Although Angelus managed to open an escape route from the Terrans, Alice will
be imprisoned by Virons.
Name: SHE SELLS SANCTUARY
Briefing:
According to the scientific council, Dr. McNeal hodls to key to the "portals";
they hope that they won't search in her brain and that he won't be saved.
Rho gives Jacob full support if he's going to rescue her. She's been improsed
in the Mentax-5 facility. As soon as Rho and Angelus reach the area, LaCroix
wants to be in, or she will tell to Warhurst, and Angelus orders her to prepare
an LZ and an escape route; and, as long as both Rho and LaCroix know, this
operation has been authorized by Warhurst.
The mission is simple: get in, rescue Alice and get out.
Starting units:
+ 32 Light Troopers
+ 4 Heavy APCs
+ 1 Combat Engineer
+ 1 Sentry
+ 1 Field Sensor
Primary Objectives:
+ Save Alice McNeal
+ Escort Alice to the LZ
Secondary Objectives:
+ Destroy all Anti-Air Defenses around the island
Map Description: Mentax-5 prison complex is place on a island at the center of
the map. There are onyl two ways to get on this island, on the west, via a
bridge guarded by Scorcher turrets and a ford on the southeast, connected to a
small island where you start. This island is linked only to the prison zone, so
basically there's only way in and out without air support.
The prison island has a VL in the south, circled by forests and the whole
island is filled with SAM sites; the prison itsefl is an other VL and there's
only one way in (or out); there are two bunkers, one near the prison gates and
the other near the bridge.
The mainland sorrounds the prison island is mostly hilly, with narrow
passageway flanked by forests and/or crests, which difficult for broad vehicle
formations to pass.
LaCroix will set up the LZ in the north and the Virons/Imperials woll set up
two LZs, one left to your LZ and the other near the southern tip of the
mainland.
Support Availability: Dropships and all Off-Map attacks
Extra Unit Availability: everything except Transport Helidynes
Weather Description:
Walkthrough:
Carefully move your Light Troopers near the ford and wait for two Destroyer
Hoverdynes to pass and kill with AT grenades; you can also pass by them, but
they will keep patrolling the area and there is a possibility that they will
spot you when you pass the ford.
Once you ahve captured the VL south of the prison, place your Light Troopers in
the two forests north of the VL and wait for the main force patrolling the
area, four A4 Striders, a Destroyer Hoverdyne a some Legionnaires. It's better
to destroy the Striders first, then go for the Legionnaires; if you want, you
can use the Heavy APCs as bait for the vehicles while they kill the infantry,
their flamer is especially good at this job. Note that there's an Imperial
Howitzer patrolling the area, so if you see incoming artillery fire, quickly
scatter your troops to avoid that they are mass-killed by a single salvo.
Before entering the prison, take out as many SAM sites you can and place as
many Light Troopers in the bunker just outside the prison, facing west and in
secondary mode: later on, the Terrans will move few armored vehicles near the
prison and by placing here your Troopers you'll be able to fend off any attack.
You'll have a Combat Engineer, too, so you won't have too many problems
guarding the location, even if there are less than an half of your original
Light Troopers.
Move five or six Light Troopers on the prison's VL and take out the small group
of Legionnaires guarding the gate.
As the VL falls in your hands, Alice McNeal and two additional Light Troopers
will pop out from the prison main building.
Alice will tell Jacob that she was going to be taken to Vlaana's personal
cruiser for interrogation and Warhust will make a fuss about this unauthorized
operation, telling Angelus that he'd better survive as once he's back, he'll
break as many bones as lost NSA equipment lost in this action.
The Transport Helidynes that brought you in will go in to retrieve Alice, but
they will be shot down by incoming SAM fire, so you'll have to escort Alice to
the LZ LaCroix just finished to prepare.
(note: I wasn't able to destroy all SAM Sites before freeing Dr. McNeal, so the
Helidynes were shot down. I'll replay the mission ASAP to see if without the
SAM sites the mission will end after freeing Alice. Update: this whole thing is
scripted, meaning that even without working SAM Sites the Transport Helidynes
will be destroyed, so don't bother taking them out).
Now bring down a Combat Engineer, a pair of Rocket Terradynes and as many
Liberators you can; the Virons and the Imperials will set up two LZs and the
Virons will launch attacks at your LZ; most attacks will be staged by
Penetrators and Scout Helidynes, nothing too heavy; La Croix will be able to
withstand such attacks but as long you don't have enough forces to attack, help
her in fending off all attacks. The ideal strike force should be composed by 6
or 8 Liberators, 4 Rocket Terradynes and one Combat Engineer; you should
probably have all necessary APs but you'll need a couple of Dropships to have
them all.
Once you are ready, go to the first enemy LZ and take out any defense you might
encouter; it's highly probable that you won't have much opposition, and there
aren't any turrets protecting the both LZs, too.
As the first LZs is under your control, move toward the second one; as for the
first, you won't encounter many resistance.
Now that the enemy can't call down any reinforcment, board Alice on a APC and
escort her to the north LZ (unfortunately bringing her to the previously
enemy-controlled LZs won't work).
De-briefing:
Warhurst is extremely disappointed by Angelus; he would court martial him, if
wasn't for his capabilities, thinking he had highere respects for the
traditions of the NSA army.
Angelus replies that Alice was way too important for...the survival of the NSA.
Warhurst dismisses the situation by telling him that he hopes this is the first
and last time he disobeys and calls everyone back to New Darwin.
Name: PUSH
Briefing:
The NSA and Clan Hroag signed a self-defense treaty for beating the Terrans.
Angelus still doesn't know if he can trust the Virons, he still remembers what
happened to major Grant, Antonia and Nova Legia. Alice thinks Virons are
sincere, but he still asks himself of what could be their use. G'hall and
Vlaana have an immense army and they can only postpone the unavoidable...Alice
says that the alliance with the Virons can give the NSA some time, but for
what? There's something big going on, and it's related to the unmanned pod that
crashed a while ago. Authorities must begn to reveal something, or there will
be a rebellion.
The Empire began a full scale attack at the Hroag main enclave, Tzah'Norr's
crossing, a group of island. Most of their firepower comes from artillery units
and one of the first tasks will be to destroy them.
Starting units:
+ 4 Light Troopers
+ 4 Siege Soldiers
+ 2 Recon Terradynes
+ 2 Rocket Terradynes
+ 1 Heavy APC
+ 1 Combat Engineer
+ 2 Liberators
+ 2 Ravagers
+ 2 Sentries
Primary Objectives:
+ Defend the Primary island
+ Reconquer the primary island
+ Attack the enemy bases
+ Kill Ghall Vi'cath
+ Reconquer the whole base
Secondary Objectives:
+ Destroy all Howitzers
Map Description: seven islands compose this map; four of them contains an LZ
and three of them a VL each; the westernmost island doesn't contain neither an
LZ nor a VL and has strategical importance at all.
The island on the north west is under Imperial control and is well defended by
four SAM sites around the LZ plus one Pulverizer turret near each bridge
connecting the island to the other. Right to this island, there's a second
island under Imperial Control, which will be used by the Virons at a certain
point of the map; again, the island has four SAM sites protecting it plus three
AT turrets for ground-to-ground fire; two of these turrets are located on the
west, near the bridge linking this island to the other owned by the Terrans,
and the third near a bridge to the south.
The sout west island is where you start and contains your LZ. Two bridges
connects it to the fourth main island, controlled by allied Viron troops, and
one of the two islands with a neutral (at least at the very beginning) VL.
The island controlled by the friendly Viron Troops also holds a VL on a
peninsula in the northwest; the tip of peninsula in unreacheable by ground
vehicles as there is a blockade and a thick forest sorrounding the area. Near
the Viron-controlled LZ there are 3 SAM Sites and a single AT turret. North of
this island, rests the fifth island containing a VL and a SAM site; this place
is mostly flat.
The last island is north of your starting positio. The south side is protected
by two AT turrets and the VL is at the bottom of a small valley; on the
relative crest sits a SAM site and a bunker.
Support Availability: Dropships and all Off-Map attacks
Extra Unit Availability: everything
Weather Description: always sunny
Walkthrough:
You'll have a full Viron army as ally, which will independetly attack Imperial
troops and reconquer VLs. They won't attack the two LZs at the top of the map
but they will give you some support, avoiding you to split forces to fight a
two-sided war. The Imperials will call down the best units they have, including
a large number of Attack Helidynes; the best way to deal with them are Rocket
Terradynes, which will always have to accompnay your main strike force. You'll
also need some Scout Helidynes to destroy the Howitzers in the central VL as
only flying units and infantry can reach them.
Move your infantry on the LZ and put the Siege Soldiers in secondary mode. Your
starting LZ will be under attack by a pair of Helidyne squadrons that will
prefer circling around it rather than attacking it directly: the Light Troopers
and the two field turrets will be enough to fend off any attacker that comes
too close. Place the Heavy APC and Recon Terradynes near them and call down two
other Rocket Terradynes and as many Liberators you can; if you prefer them, you
can order Ravagers in their place, though they will slow down your pace; I
always kept a pair of them as vanguard, but I kept the more agile and flexible
(thanks to their machine guns) Liberators as main force.
A pair of Light Hoverdynes, followed shortly by a Destroyer Hoverdyne will
attack your first LZ; once destroyed, go for the first bridge, and head for the
western VL.
Probably Drahk'Mar will have already told you about they can't protect the LZ
and they are falling back; I placed three Marauders directly on their LZ, one
in secondary mode, to protect the LZ and unloading troops from Helidyna and
artillery attacks. It's pointless to repair the SAM sites on the LZ's west side
as long as the central VL is not under your control and the Howitzers are gone,
as those vehicles will constantly aim for these turrets. Nad, once you'll get
rid of those vehicle, you'll probably won't need additional SAM support.
The first step is conquering the western VL. Slowly advance and let the
Ravagers take the brunt of the assault; there are two AT turrets plus a pair of
Destroyer Hoverdynes in the area; once you have destroyed them, proceed and
destoy the two Howitzers in the area, then place your Ravagers and one Rocket
Terradyne in secondary mode facing the bridge heading to north and use your
Liberators to eradicate all Imperial forces on the island; be sure to place the
Ravagers at the very beginning of the bridge, to make difficult for enemy units
to pass; take care of the SAM site atop of the crest top and repair your
forces. Call down enough units to fill your losses and even two or three Scout
Helidynes to destroy the Howitzers bombarding the Viron' SAM sites; there is a
Light Hoverdyne that can shoot back at the Helidynes, so make it your first
target and then destroy the three artillery tanks and as last step all remaing
Hoverdynes (probably a Destroyer and a Conqueror).
Without those artillery tanks the Virons will begin to move out from their
base, claiming the central and easternmost VLs.
Rho will alert you that the Virons have an LZ and have brought to the
battlefield something monstrous; it's Ghall, happy to share the battlefield
with you again. Centurion Dracus will also open a comm channel telling Angelus
that he always wanted to capture and interrogate such a competent officer, and
that he will do this soon; Dracus will probably tell you that your defenses are
crumbling, but that's hardly the truth.
Short after he will warn about incoming Viron assault pods; these six pods
(containg four or five Prime Clanguards each) will land on your first LZ: as
there are Light Troopers, Siege Soldiers, Guardians and even an Heavy APC
(which carries a flamethrower), they won't be a big problem; if the APC is
still active, they'll be roasted by the time they exit the pods.
It is now time to go for the first LZ, which is protected by Imperial forces
only. Attack only by land, there are four SAM sites that will make short work
of your Helidynes; be sure to bring with you Rocket Terradynes, there's an high
probability that the Conqueror Hoverdyne and the two Howitzers there are backed
up by at least three Attack Helidynes; before proceeding to the LZ, take out
the Pulverizer turret and before calling any Dropship to your newly acquired
location, be sure that all SAM sites are gone, or it will suffer heavy damage.
Once the LZ is under your control, place your Ravagers near the bridge for the
last LZ; as usual, leave little space between the bridge and the tanks and put
one of your Marauders in AMS mode before repairing and replacing your losses.
For the final assault, be sure to bring at least six Rocket Terradynes, two
Ravagers and at the very least ten Liberators.
As soon you cross the bridge, Ghall Vi'cath will invite you to taste his hard
skin and one he is in sight, Rho will comment the size of his Centruroid. In
fact, by concentrating fire on it, you'll have barely the time to understand
its shape; it might be big and with a bit more of health points compared to a
Ravager, but armor ratings are average and his only weapon is pretty weak. Take
care of all units in the area and if this LZ was the last zone not under your
control, the mission will be over; if not, help the Virons in taking back any
VL under Imperial control.
De-briefing:
Drahk'Mar is speechless. The Hroag Clan is again indebt and swear eternal
gratitude to him. He killed their greatest enemy, Ghall Vi'Cath and basically
started to make the Virons to rebel against the Empire.
Warhusts is even more amazed. At first he wasn't sure if Major Grant got a
point in promoting Angelus to front-line duty, but he exceeed everyone's
expectations.
A transport is waiting for Angelus to brind him back to New Darwin. Dr. McNeal
is waiting for him.
Briefing:
the NSA is gambling on its future with the help of an alien race that days
before was slaughtering innocent people. If Vlaan would know what it's going
on, she'll probably die laughing, or at least that's waht Jacob thinks. They're
going to use a 300-years old warship with an engine 20-million years old to
evacuate a whole planet into an other quadrant...Angelus still doens't fully
believe this, and now he's headed to Krig, where this whole thing began. Why
the Virons would want to remain on Morningstar to die while all Morningstar
population relocates?
The Clanship crash-landed on a swamp. There have been casualties and many
sytems are down. The ship is stranded until repairs are done, and Terrans know
where they are. And they've just arrived and still haven't found the drilling
rigs that the Virons on Morningstar. The first step is to secure the area so
repairs can begin.
Angelus will be the mission commander. Drahk'Mar insists that Viron troops will
follow his orders by any mean, just like his "Cla'Vai" troops.
Starting units:
+ 12 Prime Clanguards
+ 1 Engineer Centruroid
Primary Objectives:
+ Engineer Centruroid must survive
+ Examine the distortion field
+ Place and defend the Mobile Scanners
+ Inspect the central island
Secondary Objectives:
none
Map Description:
Support Availability: no Dropships or Off-Map attacks
Extra Unit Availability: none
Weather Description: cloudy, but no rain.
Walkthrough:
So, you are going to command the Virons for a while. Although the mission
begins with a small tutorial, don't expect the game going easy on you just
because those are the first missions.
Meld all your Prime Clanguards in Infector Clanguards and move them to the west
LZ while the Engineer Centruroid goes near the distortion field origin point.
There are three alien pillars there, and one it's broken, probably due to your
crash-landing and it's the source of the electromagnetic field. This pillar is
one of the many relics that can be found on Krig-7B and other planets; their
purpose is unknown and the Virons call their creators the Elder race, the ones
which created the singularity drive; also, it is possible to overcome this
anomaly by placing mobile scanners in the right locations.
Continue to move your Clanguards toward the west LZ and kill the six
Legionnaires there; the Infector Clanguards will finish them off pretty quickly.
Centurion Cezaurus will greet you, making clear that he has got a direct order
from Vlaana to kill both Angelus and Drahk'Mar.
Call there the Engineer Centruroid and have it place the mobile scanner right
on the VL. Unmeld one of your Infector Clanguards and place the resulting two
Prime Clanguards on the observation tower.
Board the remaining units on the Centruroid and head toward the bridge
connecting the central island to the rest of the map. Unboard your Clanguards
and unmeld them; there are a total of six Light Hoverdynes in the island, plus
three Legionnaires in a bunker; four Hoverdynes will come toward you while the
remaining two will patrol the northeast part of the island. Be sure to take all
of them out before melding your Clanguards again to take care of the
Legionnaires. In the meantime, an Hoverdyne APC will attack the VL where you
already placed a mobile scanner; if you feel the VL is going to be taken by it
(this will mean the scanner's destruction and therefore mission failure), order
your Clanguards out of the tower. After the APC is gone, meld your troops and
locate them on the tower again.
Move your units to the VL on the central island to conquer it; the base has
nothing you can use, only old Terran equipment. Meld your Clanguards and board
them on the Centruroid to quickly move them near the last VL. Once near, unload
them and have them attack the four Legionnaires protecting it; it's als
probable that a lone Legionnaire will attack your first VL, so pay attention if
the VL isn't longer under your control.
Once all Legionnaires are gone, move your Engineer Centruroid on the last VL to
have both mobile scanners online.
De-briefing:
Drahk'Mar debriefs Angelus about this Cezaurus, which the Virons know as a
special agent very near to the Empress herself.
Name: ASPHYXIATION
Briefing:
According to Rho, Virons stink like one-week old Kray meat. He understands that
they must be controlled, but asks to captain Angelus a rooms on higher bridges,
the stink gets through the oxigen mask. If he does, he'll give him his
collection of Ariel cards.
The Clanship's Zethan tanks suddently collapsed, and the gas is leaking out
from the ship. The Virons will die if all Zethan is gone, and the only way to
get it is to steal from the Terrans all what they left off.
Map Description: the map is a large group of islands, with two LZs and seven
VLs, each with two Zethan canisters. Your LZ is on the south, while Terrans
occupy the norther LZ. The islands position also splits the map into two parts.
Any unit wanting to reach the two southeast VLs must pass on the second VL from
the east.
Support Availability: Dropships but no Off-Map attacks.
Extra Unit Availability: Prime Clanguards, Engineer Centruroids and field
sensors
Weather Description: cloudy but no rain.
Walkthrough:
Your forces will start divided. The two Centruroids, 6 Prime Clanguards and two
bio-pulsar turrets are at the LZ; two bio-pulsar cannnons and three Prime
Clanguards are north of the LZ, near the rotated C-shaped island; a lone
Clanguard stands at the second VL to the east. You'll have to collect 10
canisters and bring them back to the LZ and the Terrans are attacking the
canisters to deny the Virons breathable air. To collect the Canisters you'll
have to use a Centruroid and click on them just like they are infantry; if the
Centruroid carrying the canisters is destroyed, all canisters in it will be
destroyed.
If done correctly, this mission will require few minutes to be completed, with
little or no losses of your troops.
Board your troops and the two bio-pulsar cannons on the Corruptor Centruroid
and move it near the lone Prime Clanguard on the second VL to the east. Drop
all your units there and use your Corruptor to collect all canisters in the
area. You'll be able to collect a total of six canisters from the three VLs
south of your current position, though only four will be stricly required.
Your Engineer Centruroid will collect an other six (or even eight) canister
from the VLs north of your starting position: first, the VL east of the small
defensive point, near the "inverted C" island (2 canisters), then the two
canisters inside the "throath" of the above island and two other canisters from
the platform southeast of the Engineer's current position. You'll be able to
collect two other canisters (eight canisters total) from the VL west of the
platform and safely move the Engineer Centruroid on the LZ without having it
damaged.
The units you dropped from the Corruptor will soon be under attack by a small
Terran force, probably two Light Hoverdynes, one or two Combat Striders and few
Legionnaires, easy thing for the units there. Once this first attack force is
gone and the Corruptor completed the canisters retrieval, move the Centruroid
back to the LZ, with the Prime Clanguards as escort. If the Corruptor
Centruroid will fall under attack, have it retreat immediately while the
Clanguards block the enemy.
Once at least 10 canisters are on the LZ, mission will be over.
De-briefing:
Clan Hroag owe its life to Angelus once again, and he's sure that Virons will
be able to pay back this debt.
Name: AIMING FOR THE TEETH
Briefing:
Krig-7B became a planet of historical importance in year 2419, when the Crayven
Corporation and the Order of the New Dawn began fighting to alien relics found
on this planet. It was later abandoned when Sarah Parker, a rogue Crayven
agent, destroyed all relics. In year 2729 the Terran Empire installed many
drilling sites for the Zethan gas, in order to enslave the Virons. Many Viron
prisoners are used as workforce in these sites.
Rho is reporting that the Terrans have a TX3 anti-orbital cannon and if it's
active, the Clanship won't be able to take off; as the ship is still under
repair, Angelus is going to take it out; the zone is very well defended, and
the plan calls for a small force to sneak in and secure an LZ for reinforcments.
Starting units:
+ 4 Prime Clanguards
+ 4 Infector Clanguards
+ 6 Missile Clanguards
+ 2 Engineer Centruroids
Primary Objectives:
+ Conquer the LZ
+ Destroy the enemy's energy stations
+ Destroy the anti-orbital cannon
Secondary Objectives:
+ Destroy the Command Center
Map Description: first, the whole area is filled with Pulzerizer turrets and
SAM site. All of them are manned, so you won't be able to see them at the
mission start. Your starting point is in the map's northwest corner; east of
this position there is an LZ; a second LZ is placed near the map's rightmost
edge, protected by an Anti-Infantry Turret and a Scorcher turret. South of this
LZ is the anti-orbital cannon, protected by three anti-missile devices and four
Scorcher turrets. West of the cannon lies a command center and a VL. Two other
VLs are located at the center of the map.
Energy stations are located on the west and south, with little or no defenses.
The terrain offers lot of hills and forest where infantry can take cover.
Support Availability: Dropships and Viron Assault Pods
Extra Unit Availability: Prime Clanguards, Missile Clanguards, Engineer
Centruroids and field sensors
Weather Description: cloudy, but no rain
Walkthrough:
Unmeld the Infector Clanguards and move your infantry units near the LZ and
have them kill anything guarding the zone. There will two Helidynes, 1 Combat
Strider, 1 Destroyer and 3 Legionnaires; it's higly probable that a single
Imperial Howitzer will begin to pound the area, so quickly take care of the
Anti-Infantry turret south of the LZ and begin to hunt down the Howitzer while
your Engineers capture the LZ.
Before calling down any Dropship, take out the SAM site on the crest east of
the LZ.
OK, you've got the LZ, but you still have to pass the defenses. Drahk'mar has
the solution: Rei'Sah, or Viron Assault Pods, just like the ones Ghall used on
Morningstar. Beign built with organic matter, these pods aren't affected by
shields, so yu can safely drop them anywhere on the map; do not consider them
as a "free unit" attack: calling five Pods (each Pod contains one Viron Prime
Clanguard) is much more expensive than using a Dropship, so they must be used
where you really need to.
Before doing anything else, organize the defenses of your LZ, which will be
constantly under attack, most times by Legionnaires, but Destroyer Hoverdynes
and Attack Helidynes won't be rare. Call down extra Prime and Missile
Clanguards and have them destroy anything that comes too close to the LZ.
Use the Assault Pods to drop 5 Clanguards directly on the eastern energy
station; destroy it, then move them near the LZ to the north; being protected
by two anti-infantry turrets, one capable of some decent long-range fire, wait
for an other Pod attack to be ready, then use it to have ten Prime Clanguards
to assault the LZ. Do NOT drop them directly on the LZ or they will be an easy
prey for the Scorcher turret; first take out the Anti-Infantry turret to the
left, use the Prime Clanguards' secondary mode to regain some strenght and the
cautiosly approach the Scorcher and take it out with long-range fire.
If there's an Imperial Helodyne guarding the area, just wait to capture the LZ
and then call down a Dropship with some Missile Clanguards and an Engineer
Centruroid to take care of any defending unit and to destroy any other unit
trying to overrun your position.
Use a third time the Assault Pods to destroy the energy station to the south;
this time the station is defended by few Legionnaires and Light Hoverdynes, but
ignore them and concentrate on the station; then, if some Clanguards are still
alive, take care of the units there.
Without the energy all most defense turrets will be useless. It is now time to
assault the anti-orbital cannon, and here comes the fun.
Leave some units defending the two LZs while all other units meet at the
northmost VL; you'll find two Light Hoverdynes and a Missile Strider, an easy
prey for your Prime and Missile Clanguards.
Once united, meld some of the Missile Clanguards to obtain Mortar Clanguards.
You can use Mortat Centruroids too, but they are a lot more expensive and less
flexible once unmeld; also, Mortar Centruroids will have an easier time passing
the cannon's anti-missile defenses.
Head toward the cannon; aside the three AMS turrets, the cannon is defended by
a total of four Scorcher turrets, one at each angle of the cannon's base. There
will be artillery fire from the nearby Command Center, so you'll have to fire
once with your Mortar Clanguards, move, fire again and move again until the
Scorcher Turrets are down. Note that there will be Engineer Hoverdynes that
will repair the turrets, so you'll might have to destroy them again. However,
before attempting any assault to the cannon or to the Command Center, capture
the last LZ to cut off any Terran reinforcment.
Remember that the Command Cente must be destroyed to accomplish the secondary
objective and that Prime Clanguards are the perfect unit for this work. However
to do this you'll have to pass between two Scorcher turrets (one from the
cannon defenses, another defending the Command Center itself) and one Howitzer
Hoverdyne, so if you want you can call down tons of Missile Clanguards, meld
them into Mortar Clanguards and have them hammer the cannon away with artillery
fire; you'll may have to destroy a pair of Scorcher turrets first to get a
clear shot at the cannon and the three AMS turrets will shot down most incoming
fire, but it can be done.
De-briefing:
Angelus is beginning to understand the Virons better. Without the threat of the
anti-orbital cannon the Clanship will be able to fly to the planet's other side.
Name: IT CAME FROM THE SWAMPS
Briefing:
To keep alive the Welby-Simms corporation after the rise of the Terran Empire,
executives switched from weapon manufacturing to industrial machineries. Their
latest prodcut, the DT-15 extraction equipment, is considered the finest
drilling equipment and it's even used by the Empire here on Krig-7B.
It's time to secure the drilling towers you've come here for. Drahk'mar informs
Angelus that Clan Haxduum and its Vicath, Khau'nir, is imprisoned in the
eastern prison as workforce for the drilling site and if freed, they will join
your cause against the Empire.
Starting units:
+ 6 Prime Clanguards
+ 2 Gun Centruroids
+ 2 Engineer Centruroids
+ 2 Screamer Helidynes
Primary Objectives:
+ Capture the drilling site
+ Set Clan Haxduum free
+ Set Khau'nir Vicath free
+ Rho must survive
+ Kill Cezareus
+ Evac Khau'nir
Secondary Objectives:
+ Defend the prison
Map Description: the terrain is hilly, with some forests and few stretches of
water.
There are four LZs: the south one is where you start; ths LZ is sorrounded by
forests and rests on plain terrain. The second LZ is on a small explanade atop
of a hill to the east, just outside the prison. The third LZ is north, inside
the drilling complex; the LZ is hidded by forests and has few accesspoint for
vehicles, all of them narrow, that will block broad formations. The last LZ
lays on the upper-left corner of the map, outside the second prison complex;
it's protected by a single Pulverizer turret.
A road connects the three Imperial LZs; this road is flanked for most of the
time by forests, making hard for vehicles in broad formations to pass.
Support Availability: Dropships and Viron Assault Pods
Extra Unit Availability: Prime Clanguards, Missile Clanguards, Gun Centruroids,
Engineer Centruroids, Screamer Helidynes, bio-pulsar cannons and field sensors
Weather Description: the weather will randomly change between heavy rain,
cloudy and sunny
Walkthrough:
Call down four Gun Centruroid to meld into a Missile Centruroids and five or
six Missile Clanguards. Board the infantry on the Engineer Centruroids and move
all your units toward the east LZ, passing through the sout river. You won't
encounter any enemy till you are near the LZ, so you can advance quickly.
Although I've never seen the first LZ under attack, you can call down
additional Prime and Missile Clanguards to protectet it.
Once near the LZ, unload all infantry units and make them advance toward the
LZ, protected by the forests; the LZ is protected by an Artillery Hoverdyne, 2
Light Hoverdynes and 2 Legionnaires. When the artillery began to fire, move all
your vehicles on the LZ to help the infantry; have the Missile Centruroids hunt
down the Howitzer while your infantry take care of the Light Hoverdynes and the
Screamer Helidynes kill the Legionnaires.
Capture the LZ and repair all your units.
Drahk'Mar will tell you that Khau'Nir has been moved to the prison of the west;
saergent Rho will capture an Imperial APC with "his big knife that he always
carry around" and with this vehicle you'll rescue the Viron Vicath. Note that
the APC will be targeted by Imperial units , so keep a sharp eye on it and
don't move it without escort (just why you need an Imperial APC when you've got
Engineer Centruroids which work as APC...).
The Imperials will soon try to overrun your units protecting the prison; leave
a good defense force, 8 Prime and 8 Missile Clanguards will work against
anything and take care of the two Imperial Howitzers coming from the north with
your Missile Centruroids; due to their high speed and total movement freedom,
Screamer Helidynes are excellent as forward scout, although their weapons won't
be effective against anything heavier than a Strider.
The prison LZ will be attacked by Light Hoverdynes and Legionnaires, with few
attacks from Destroyer Hoverdynes or Striders. Missile Clanguards will be able
to pummel them at long range while Prime Clanguards will deliver the finishing
blow if they come too close.
Once those two Artillery Hoverdynes are go, move the Imperial APC near your
Engineer Centruroids and begin to move toward the drilling site.
The drilling site is defended by a couple of Legionnaires and a Missile
Strider, easy work for your combined Clanguards and Missile Centruroids.
Capture the LZ and call down the usual Prime/Missile Clanguard defense group
and head toward the last LZ. This time you won't encounter too much resistence,
and your way will be clear of enemies; the LZ won't be defended by any unit, so
you'll be able to destroy the single Pulverizer turret guarding it with
artillery fire. Use your Screamer Helidynes to highlight the turret and meld
your Engineer Centruroids and Missile Clanguards in their Mortar counterparts
and disable the turret. Move your units on the LZ and once it's captured, a
lone APC will pop out from the base: it's Cezareus, trying the leave the area.
It won't last long even against your Prime Clanguards, but use everything
you've got just to be sure that he won't escape.
Now move the Imperial APC where the big green arrow is pointing and watch Rho
rescue the Haxduum Vicath.
De-briefing:
The Virons are now self-sufficent in Zethan extraction and it's time to go
search for the CSS Astrid. Clan Haxduum will help the Hroags and Angelus in
fighting the Empire.
Name: LONG DISTANCE CALL
Briefing:
Via a message transmitted in the theta band, Alice informs Jacob that the
situation on Morningstar Prime is weird. Terrans have reduced the attacks and
there's no sign of Vlaana and seems like the whole planet is holding its
breath. Something really big will happen soon. The merchant federation tells
about a huge Imperial armada in the Ney Vesta system, but it's not confirmed.
For the sake of everyone, Jacob must end his mission quickly.
The Terrans knew that Exodus-1 was coming, and that's why communications were
down until now. Someone is giving them informations if they know this much.
Imperials have set up a large Deep Space Scanner, which can be used to
investigate about the rumors on the large armada in the Ney Vesta system.
Starting units:
+ Saergent Rho
+ 8 Prime Clanguards
+ 1 Scout Helidyne
Primary Objectives:
+ Rho must survive
+ Infiltrate into the Command Bunker
+ Rho has to enter the Bunker
+ Infiltrate into the Central Node
+ Bring the Scanner back online
+ Conquer an LZ
Secondary Objectives:
none
Map Description: the Deep Space Scanner is roughly at the center of the map.
The Central Node is located at the center of the Scanner itself and can be
accessed via for passageways. All passageways are protected by four
legionnaires, two on on observation towers and two at the passageway's
entrance. Near the observation towers there are energy stations and later on,
Victory Locations.
There are three LZs: one on the northeast corner, one in the souteast and one
in the west. The terrain is mostly flat, with few rolling hills but lots of
forests where infantry can hide. Imperials built several observation towers in
the whle area, though only a few are guarded. The Command Bunker is east of
your position (which is in the lower-eft corner of the map), sorrounded by
unguarded observation towers and searchlights.
Support Availability: Drospshis, Viron Assault Pods, Viral Spores, Artillery
Barrage
Extra Unit Availability: all Clanguards, Gun Centruroid, Engineer Centruroid,
Penetrator Centruroid, Scout Helidyne all deployable turrets.
Weather Description: weather will vary from rainy to cloudy.
Walkthrough:
Begin by setting the Scout Helidyne in secondary mode and have Rho kill both
Legionnaire on the observation tower near your forces. Begin to move north;
before getting to the bunker, you'll secure the west LZ to cut some of the
Imperials' ability to call down reinforcments.
Continue to set the Scout Helidyne in secondary mode to let Rho snipe out all
Legionnaires, and once near the LZ, place the Scout Helidyne on the swamps to
the west (assuming the camera is facing north) to highlight two Destroyer
Hoverdynes and six Legionnaires guarding the LZ. Have Rho snipe out the
Legionnaires while the Clanguards take out the Hoverdynes, then kill the two
Legionnaires on the observation tower north of the LZ and capture it. Place the
Scout Helidyne at the center of the LZ to have an optimal sight at whatever the
Imperial might throw at you and begin to call down reinforcments: one Engineer
Centruroid, six Penetrator Centruroids and six Gun Centruroids will be enough
to work as a strike force for the whole missions; remember to meld the Gun
Centruroid to have Missile Centruroids for anti-air defense; Penetrators will
take care of everything on the ground.
Do not move till the LZ seems to be clear of enemies (or that they have lost
enough vehicles and are not willing to use anymore of them to attack);
Penetrators in secondary mode, facing east, will be extremely efficient in
taking out whatever somes into their firing range.
Before leaving this LZ, be sure to have Missile Clanguards helping their Prime
counterparts for long-range and anti-air duties. You can leave the Scout
Helydine where is to give your Clanguards a better line of sight, your
remaining vehicles won't have much to fear from any Imperial force.
Board Rho on the Engineer Centruroid and move your Penetrator, Missile and of
course Engineer Centruroids near the Command Bunker. A patrol of four
Legionnaires will come out from there, take them out and have Rho infiltrate
the building.
He won't have much difficulties in dealing with the mark-3 interface of the
Bunker, however Terrans will cut off Bunker comands and will force Saergent Rho
to infiltrate the Central Node if he wants to use the scanner.
Order Rho to exit the building and board the Engineer Centruroid and move your
assault force toward the next LZ, defended by the usual two Legionnaires on a
observation Tower and a Missile Strider; once conquered, call down a pair each
of Prime and Missile Clanguards for defense, though it will probably be
superflous.
Head toward the final LZ; as the one before, it will be lightly defended,
probably only by a Strider and a Helidyne.
It is time to go to the Scanner. Leave your one Missile and Penetrator
Centruroid near the newest LZ and move everything else near the north passage
way; take care of the Legionnaires there and have Rho infiltrate the Central
Node.
This time the Terrans will cut off the Scanner energy sources, so an Engineer
Centruroid must be used to bring the Scanner back online by repairing the four
energy stations outside the Scanner. You'll have to conquer a LZ and call down
an Engineer...you already did that, the only thing you have to do is to move
the Engineer on the newly-indicated VLs, wait they are conquered and then move
to the next one, and so on till are under your control. Have Penetrators escort
the Engineer as on each VL you'll have to deal with two legionnaires atop
observation towers.
After compelting the scan, Rho will make the whole structure explode to make
harder for the Imperials to track down the Clanship.
De-briefing:
NSA intelligence was right, there's a huge Imperial armada in the Ney Vesta
system; Jacob instructs Alice to inform general Warhust as soon as possible and
tells her that they'll be back with the Astris. Alice informs Jacob that
someone killed LaCroix while she was sleeping in the barracks.
The Clanship will now head to Nefilim 3-1-7 and there won't be any comms due to
nebula interference.
Name: CITIES IN DUST
Briefing:
Nefilim 3-1-7 is a binary system in the Ragnarok Nebula, at the edge of Viron
space. Being it an isolated system and not being importat to NSA, only limited
informations are available. During year 2421, the CSS Astrid mysteriously
vanished on the fifth planet of the system after activating an alien device
found there.
The planet is covered by sands and rocks and its oceans are filled with the
Neh'Gro'Vi (water of silver life), a liquid metal. The planet is also ravaged
by electromagnetic storms that intefer with any electronic device. These
conditions are probably found on all Viron planets: this will explain their
organic-based technology.
Drahk'Mar explains that this planet was a research colony before the Empire
arrived; Terran personnel on this planet is composed mostly by techs, but from
what they've fielded, they knew they were coming. Rho identified a suitable
first LZ to the south. After the LZ has been secured, the Activation Key will
be moved by land to better defend it.
Starting units:
+ 4 Infector Clanguards
+ 4 Mortar Clanguards
+ 2 Penetrator Centruroids
+ 1 Engineer Centruroid
Primary Objectives:
+ Conquer an LZ
+ Reach the Crash Site
+ Meet the mysterious voice
Secondary Objectives:
none
Map Description: this map is an intricated labirynth of canyons, with small
plain areas; something that resembles a beach is on the south and contains two
LZs, one on the west and the other on the east. The East one, near your
starting position is located atop of a hill and it's defended by two
Anti-Infantry turrets and few light vehicles; a Radar Station rests west of the
LZ. The western LZ is set on a plain, well defended by four Pulverizer turrets
anda good amount of medium/heavy vehicles.
There's a third Terran based to the northeast, with the first of the two VLs
the map has. The second and last VL is located to the northwest, on a small
explanade. The best way to reach these VLs is a long and bumpy canyon in the
middle of the map, which then forks once near the upper edge of the map. A
second way to reach the northwest VL (and then, the northeast VL) is a canyon
near the map's left edge that connects the west LZ with the west VL.
Support Availability: Dropships but no Off-Map attacks.
Extra Unit Availability: all Clanguards, Gun Centruroid, Engineer Centruroid,
Penetrator Centruroid and all deployable turrets.
Weather Description: mostly clouds. Heavy sandstorms will obscure the area
sometimes.
Walkthrough:
Unmeld all your Infector Guards and advance toward the first LZ. Place your
Penetrator Centruroids at the beginning of the natural ramp for the LZ, flanked
on the left by Mortar Guards and on the right by Prime Clanguards; the Engineer
Centruroid will go slightly behind them, near the rocks east of the LZ to avoid
being caught in the crossfire.
This LZ is defende by a pair of Light Hoverdynes and five Legionnaires, plus a
pair of Anti-Infantry turrets, both located atop of the hill; if there aren't
any enemies in sight, have your Mortar Clanguards do suppressive fire on the
area where the ramp ends, near the hill's southern edge: the first
Anti-Infantry turret is located here, and will also prompt the defending units
to go toward your current positions, where they'll be easy targets for your
Prime Clanguards and Centruroids.
It is possible that a Missile Strider and a pair of Destroyer Hoverdynes will
pass this area while patrolling, be sure to destroy them, then climb the ramp,
destroy the Anti-Infantry turret on the other side of the LZ and capture it.
Drahk'Mar will report that the Clanship is under attack by Vlaana's cruiser,
but the Dropship with the Activation Key has already left, and will fall under
attack shortly. The dropship will crash at the northwest VL and you'll have to
retrieve the key. An Imperial Centurion will order you to cease all efforts to
retrieve it and to surrender, but who cares what Imperials say?
Call down a Dropship with a second Engineer Centruroid and don't start to move
unless you have at least nine Penetrator Centruroids: before going for the
activation key, you'll conquer the west LZ to stop the Imperials from sending
reinforcments: note that the assault on this LZ will be a true onslaught, as
the LZ has four Pulverizer turrets protecting it, plus an Imperial Howitzer, 2
Destroyer Hoverdynes, 4 A4 Combat Striders and 4 Missile Striders. Of the many
tactics I've experimented, only two worked out: the simple, brutal assault
spearheaded by Penetrator Centruroids with minimal infantry/artillery support
or many artillery units, placed all around the LZ with a massive infantry
escort to assault the turrets and protect the Mortar Centruroids from enemy
attacks. All other tactics proved wrong...well, I'm sure that a massed strike
from eight or nine Great Corruptors will work fine, too, but since you won't
have so many APs to call down 16 or 18 Penetrators, it's better to stick with
one of the two choices above.
The first option is pretty simple: meld your two Engineer Centruroids and have
the resulting Mortar Centruroid fire on one of the Pulverizer turrets from
afar, while your Penetrators take care first of the enemy Howitzer then of
everything else. Don't forget to use your infantry, too, you'll need any gun
you have to destroy the LZ defenses.
The second option is a bit more complicated. It requires at least four Mortar
Centruroids, plus at least 16 Prime Clanguards and 16 Missile Clanguards. Two
Mortar Centruroids will begin to fire on the whole LZ (I recomend the east
side, you'll come from here and the enemies will group there), while the other
two will circle the LZ and will attack from the south. Your Missile Clanguards
will support the two Mortar Centruroids on the sout with long range fire (take
out the Combat Striders and the turrets first), while your Prime Clanguards
will attack from the east taking out the Imperial Howitzer and any Hoverdyne or
Strider coming too close to the Mortar Centruroids. As Missile Striders will be
able to attack only vehicles, move your Centruroids if they come too close.
Of the two tactics above, the first is the one that worked out most of the
times, as it is simpler and doesn't divide your forces too much.
Once all your remaining units are repaired and you have called down some
reinforcments (nine Penetrator Centruroids will work fine again),
proceed toward the crash site; you can take the canyon directly north of the LZ
you've just conquered or use the one near the center of the map...you won't
find any Imperial troop in any of the two canyons, anyway.
The crash site is guarded by some Legionnaires and Dragoons plus three
Hoverdynes.
Unfortunately the Key is gone...it was impossible to reach the site first, but
you ahve to find where the Key is now. A mysterious voice tells Angelus that he
knows where the Key is, but he will speak only when the area is clean from
Imperials.
Now go toward the last VL: you'll find some Striders and two Destroyers there,
an easy prey for your Penetrators. Once gone, move on the VL to conquer it and
end the mission.
De-briefing:
It was Cezareus that sent that mysterious signal. Badly wounded and very near
to death, he tells the Key location only for the sake of his family and the
survival of the entire human race: the singulary drive must not be activated
near Nefilim or any planet with alien artifacts on its surface. The Emperor
wants to control the galaxy, but they don't know that the Elder race is lying
dormant, as many Viron legends say: they will awaken when two signals are sent;
the first has been activated 300 years ago on Krig-7B and when the second will
be, the entire galaxy will be under attack. The Emperor and Vlaana are mad,
thinking that the Elder race can be beaten...and then Cezarues blows himself up.
Name: CARVED IN SAND
Briefing:
Vlaana could start an alien invasion if she figures out how to use the Key.
It's hard to believe in what Cezareus said, but the story is quite frightening.
Drakh'Mar seems afraid to talk about it, and Angelus never saw a Viron afraid
of something.
It is imperative to regain control of the key before Vlaana figures out how to
use it. The base defenses are prepared for anything and Vlaana herself can be
there, as her personal shuttle landed few hours ago. It could be a decoy like
before, however.
Starting units:
+ 4 Missile Clanguards
+ 2 Penetrator Centruroids
+ 2 Engineer Centruroids
+ Saergent Rho
Primary Objectives:
+ Destroy the Hangar
+ Rho must survive
+ Save Rho!
+ Defend the Xenofacts
Secondary Objectives:
+ Destroy all Air forces
+ Destroy the energy stations
Map Description: mostly plain; a small sea occupies the east area. A series of
canyons dominates the southwest area, and some mountains the north.
The energy stations are located on the peninsula to the east, near a VL. The
Terran base (with two LZs) is built on the northern mountains, and it's well
defended by a series of SAM sites, Anti-Infantry and Pulverizer Turrets; two
Radar Stations ensures that everything will be spotted well before it gets
within turret's range. The base can also be divided in two parts, east and
west: these two areas are linked by a bridge but can also be accessed by
several natural ramps; it is possible to reach the easter LZ (and from there
the western LZ) from the energy stations. The hangar is located south to the
east LZ.
A last Terran LZ will pop up on the west, outside the canyon area.
There are also several Elder pillars on the map: one in the sea (west), on
north of your first LZ and three inside the canyon maze; each pillar will
represent a VL later on.
Your starting point and first LZ is at the map's lower edge.
Support Availability: Dropships and all Off-Map attacks
Extra Unit Availability: everything except Corruptor Centruroids
Weather Description: weather will change between cloudy and sandstorms.
Walkthrough:
Remember the previous mission? Well, expect the same degree of hostility from
the Terrans from now on. This means that you'll have to bring everything you've
got into battle and do the right things at the right time to mnimize losses or
at least destroy the opposition. Also, Terrans will throw in an insane number
of troops, and you'll have an insane number of troops at the end of the mission
too.
Begin by calling down a Scout Helidyne, four Missile Clanguards and enough Gun
Centruroids to obtain four Missile Centruroids.
Group the Missile Centruroids and have them board an Engineer Centruroid while
Rho board the other one. Move the Scout Helidyne near the eastern peninsula and
active its secondary mode to see 3 Destroyer Hoverdynes, one Howitzer, one
Light Hoverdyne and one Missile Strider standing still south og the VL.
As you get near a pillar, Angelus will report to Drahk'Mar that the Xenofacts
seems...active. Drahk'Mar tells that much Elder technology is still active, but
the Virons never disturbed it, it's way too dangerous.
Before attacking, be sure to have 10 Penetrator Centruroids; unlike the
previous mission, I found that there's no way to overcome this one if not by
brute force...Great Corruptors won't work as good as Penetrators right now, so
just stick to the good old Penetrator Centruroids.
Move all your forces (except the Scout Helidyne) near the pillar in the sea,
south of the peninsula; have the Penetrators advance first to draw fire from
the Missile Centruroids; the Centruroids, thanks to their higher speed will
circle the enemy formation passing near the edge of the map to take care of the
Howitzer while your Penetrators take care of everything else. Once the area is
secure, move the Engineer Centroroids in to heal all units and begin to call
down extra Penetrators. Unload the Missile Clanguards and destroy the two
energy stations to disable all turrets in the area.
As you begin the attack, Centurion Dracus will offer you a place in the Terran
army in the name of Vlaana. Angelus will turn down the offer. replying that no
NSA soldier will join the Empire, and Dracus will cut communications only after
asking if Angelus is sure about this...
Now the Terran can decide to attack your forces where they are or to barricate
themselves into their base; either way, it will be an onslaught, however
fighting Terrans where you are now is much better than having their full
defenses aiming at you while passing through narrow mountain roads.
Place your Scout Helidyne near the VL in secondary mode to see what kind of
units you are going to face; meld the Engineer Centruroids (have the resulting
Mortar Centruroids initiate a barrage on the road the Penetrators will face)
and place all your missile units near the Helidyne while your Penetrators
guards the road which links the LZ to the VL where you are. If the Terrans are
going to attack you, expect at least one artillery unit providing fire support
for a large group of Striders, Missile Striders, Destroyers and Light
Hoverdynes; as usual, both Strider types will be grouped as 4-vehicle
formations, while Destroyers and Light Hoverdynes as 3-vehicle formations;
expect one or two groups of Helidynes (3 units per group) coming for you, and
here's where Missile units come into play.
Once the Terrans seem to have finished throwing units at you, repair and
replace any losses, then board all your infantry units on the Engineer
Centruroids and move all your forces on the nearest LZ. Two Conqueror
Hoverdynes are patrolling the area, but won't last long against your
concentrated firepower. Once the LZ is secure, leave four Missile Clanguards
here and call down four Prime Clanguards to defend the LZ.
Now proceed toward the last LZ; a single Howitzer and three Destroyer
Hoverdynes will try to fend you off; two Combat Striders will pop up from the
west to reinforce them, but won't pose a big problem.
Before having Rho enter the hangar, regroup all your units and place them in
the west plain; after Rho will enter the building, the Terrans will set up and
LZ there and you'll want any vehicle from it destroyed ASAP. Place half your
units (split Penetrator and Missile Centruroids, you'll need anti-air support)
on the north entrance and the other half in the canyon maze, near the
westernmost pillar. You'll also want at least two Penetrator Centruroids near
each pillar, reinforce your main Centruroid force to 16 Penetrators and 8
Missile Centruroids.
Place one Engineer and one Penetrator Centruroid near the hangar and have Rho
enter it.
Rho will place the cobalt charges but on his way back, he will found soemthing
and the building will explode before he gets out. Drahk'mar will detect
activity within the base and shortly after Vlaana's personal shuttle will take
off, but without the Key, which is still inside the base. Rho will contact
Angelus, telling he's alive and he has the Activation Key. Immediately board
Rho on a Engineer Centruroid and escort him to your first LZ. Before doing
this, you'll might want to stop the Terrans from destroying all Xenofacts. At
least two pillars must survive, but if you placed the untis where I've told
you, they will varely have the time to react: even with the massive number of
units they will deploy, you should have an easy time; few units will go for the
two former Imperial LZs on the mountains, but will be easy prey for the
Clanguards, while everything else will be destroyed near the LZ by your main
force or by the Penetrators near the pillars.
Mission will end once Rho reaches your first LZ.
De-briefing:
Rho's alive. He found the Activation key while seraching for
something...strategical when he found a pair of Vlaana's...boots and the cobalt
charges exploded. When he regained consciusness he told himself to find the
Key, and here is it.
Name: DEAD BUT DREAMING
Briefing:
According to Drahk'Mar, all artifacts form a gigantic net set up by the Elder
Race. Many artifacts can be found in Viron space, but are different from planet
to planet. It appears that the pillars on Nefilim are linked to the planet
core. Drahk'Mar doesn't really know what can happen if more artifacts are
destroyed, but he suspects that the whole planet can collapse.
The Astrid is here.
Vlaana set up a temporal base and Dracus is organizing the defenses. The whole
area and the Astrid must be secure before Angelus personally brings in the
activation key. Drahk'Mar also advises that all Xenofacts in the area must be
protected, and Khau'nir offers his support.
Starting units:
+ 8 Prime Clanguards
+ 8 Missile Clanguards
+ 4 Thumper Centruroids
+ 4 Fighter Helidynes
Primary Objectives:
+ Conquer the region
+ Defend the Xenofacts
+ Protect the Astrid
Secondary Objectives:
none
Map Description: Mountanous desertic terrains, with almost no plain except the
three LZs. The CSS Astrid occupies the upperleft corner of the map with the
main Terran base nearby, which includes an LZ, several SAM sites, two AT
turrets and two Anti-Infantry turrets. This whole portion of the map is on a
high hill, making the postion reacheable only via two passageways: one heading
south, to the map's main valley, the second to the east, which connects the two
north LZs. The northeast LZ is set lower than the northwest LZ but it well
protected by two Pulverizer and two Anti Infantry turrets, plus two SAM Sites
on the crest to the west.
The main valley has three "lakes" running across it. Although the terrain here
is not as impervious as the north area, it still blocks line of sight, making
short range attacks very usual.
Your first LZ is set on the lower edge of the map, atop of a small hill. There
are four alien Xenofacts in the whole region, and each is also a VL; if the
Terrans conquer it, the pillars will be destroyed; at least one pillar must
remain intact. Three pillars are located near the lakes, while one northeast of
your LZ.
Support Availability: Dropships and all Off-Map attacks
Extra Unit Availability: everything except Corruptor Centruroids
Weather Description: cloudy most of the times, few random sandstorms.
Walkthrough:
Move the Thumper Centruroids on the VL near the southeast pillar and call down
a scout Helidyne and as many Penetrators you can, until you finish your APs;
switch the Engineer Centruroids in secondary mode and with the escort of the
Fighter Helidynes, move all your Centruroids where the Thumpers are. Leave all
your infantry where they are, the LZ will constantly be under attack by Terran
forces; expect a good amount of Attack Helidynes to show up, but since they
can't target infantry, they'll be an easy target for Missile Clanguards;
incoming enemy units will mostly be Destroyer Hoverdynes with light Legionnaire
or Dragoon support. Although it shouldn't be necessary, you can call down
bio-pulsar cannons or a few Prime Clanguards to meld into Infector units.
The Imperials will begin attacking the aline pillars. To accomplish the second
mission objective, at least one of these pillars must survive; a pillar will be
destroyed if the Imperials capture the corresponding Victory Location. The
southwest pillar will fall first, followed by the one in center of the map and
last the northeast one. It's pointless to strecht your forces to protect all
those pillars, just concentrate on the southeast one; you won't have to worry
too much, as you advance toward the enemy LZs, Terran units will try to stop
you or take your LZ rather than attacking the pillar; leave the Thumper
Centruroids there anyway so you won't need to recall your forces to desperately
defend the last Xenofact.
Khau'nir will lead a small force composed by Great Corruptors and Penetrator
Centruroids; it will advance as far as the northeast pillar, then the Vi'cath
will be killed and all of his units will end any operation; you won't be able
to "recruit" them in any way, so concentrate on your forces.
The first task is to secure the east LZ. 10 Penetrator Centruroids and the
Engineer Centruroids and Fighter Helidynes you already have will be enough.
Have the Penetrators will anything on ground while Fighter Helidynes fend off
any incoming Terran air unit. Use the scout Helidyne to localize incoming units
and once the road to the east LZ seems clear, position it near the bones south
of the enemy stronghold: you should be able to scout the enemy defenses,
allowing you to attack them with artillery and Off-Map attacks. Four Light
Hoverdynes stand still just outside the LZ platform, backed up by two groups,
each composed of a Pulverizer and an Anti-Infantry turret. Two Howitzers and
two SAM sites complete the defenses; both artillery units are located on the
crest north of the LZ and the SAM sites are located on the same crest, however
to the west. I used both Mortar Centruroids and Artillery Barrage to safely
destroy the Light Hoverdynes and the ground turrets, then invaded the LZ and
sent the Penetrators to hunt down the Imperial artillery units; this allowed
the Mortar Centruroids to destroy the SAM sites without beign attacked by the
remaining artiller tanks. Capture the LZ and repair anything that needs to be
repaired. Be sure to have at least two Fighter Helidynes for anti-air support
and if you want call down extra Engineer Centruroids to form additional Mortar
Centruroids, though it's not strickly necessary. Although the Terrans won't
probably attack your newly-acquired LZ (preferring to assault your very first
one), you can repair the turrets there or simply leave some Missile and Prime
Clanguards in defense.
It's now time to take out the last Terran LZ; climb the crest where the two
Imperial Howitzers were and use the Scout Helidyne to highlight the base
defenses. First, take care of the two SAM sites with long-range attacks
(artillery or Off-Map attacks, whatever you like the most), then quickly
advance toward the LZ: not only other two Howizters will begin to fire at you,
but the remaining Imperial forces will attack the Astrid. Although each of the
Astrid locations is well armored and all six locations must be destroyed to
lose the starship, it's better not to push your luck and kill everything there
fast. Be sure to have at least 16 Penetrators, although 12 will work too.
Aside the two Howitzers, four Conqueror Hoverdynes, two AT and two
Anti-Infantry turrets are protecting the area. Since they are easier to
destroy, take care of the turrets first, then think about the Conquerors. After
all ground untis are gone, destroy the various SAM sites nearby and move in
your air units if you need to.
Now, if you have eliminated all Terran units, after conquering the LZ the
mission will be over. If not, you'll have to sweep the area for any survivors.
Probably, they will concentrate south of the east LZ or around your first LZ.
Call down extra Scout Helidynes to discover them faster and kill them off.
De-briefing:
Drahk'Mar reporst that Vlaana is leaving the Nefilim system and she's headed to
Mornigstar Prime.
Name: HEAD ON THE DOOR
Briefing:
Although the travel to retrieve the Astird lasted for only few weeks, it seemed
like an year to Jacob; he didn't believe they would have been able to pull it
off and still doesn't believe that they did it. The evacutation won't be easy,
there are so many people and Vlaana is constanly persecuting the NSA and
probably she still has her best cards to play. Angelus got used to the Virons,
but still doesn't understand them: they are happy to remain on Morningstar
Prime to fight the Terrans while the whole human population leave the planet on
the Astrid. It's probably their code of honor.
Warhurst welcomes the captain; Angelus is quite surprised that Alice isn't
there, but the general tells him that she's indisposed at the moment and orders
him to setup the drilling equipment at Morning Point, a small outpost in the
artic region because it's far away from any Terran force on place; the general
will also send an escort to meet up with Angelus.
Starting units:
+ 8 Prime Clanguards
+ 8 Missile Clanguards
+ 4 Great Corruptor Centruroids
+ 4 Engineer Centruroids
+ 3 Zethan drilling equipment Transports
Primary Objectives:
+ Conquer the area
+ Retreat with the Transports to the LZ
+ Protect the Transports
Secondary Objectives:
none
Map Description: map with lots of mountains. Morning Point is at the center of
the map, with four observation towers facing north, east and west. There's a
Radar Station north of the outpost, atop of a hill.
You'll start southwest of the outpost and the Transports will automatically
travel toward the VL left of the outpost. Warhurst escort is on the east.
Later on the mission, four LZs will appear, each at an edge of the map,
sorrounding the whole outpost. A fifth LZ will be placed in the upper right
corner, protected by two mountains. A second VL rests halfway between Morning
Point and this LZ.
Support Availability: Dropships and all Off-Map Attacks
Extra Unit Availability: everything
Weather Description: random light snowfalls throughout the mission
Walkthrough:
This mission is very short but you need exactly what to do or you won't make it.
The three Transport won't be under your control for now and they will
automatically go toward the outpost VL. Warhurst escort is already in place but
won't move until you have completed the primary objective.
Unmeld the Great Corruptors and board two Prime Clanguards on an Engineer
Centruroid and move it near (but not over,) the second VL; don't capture it
right now; north of this VL there's a small road that circles it and allows you
to reach the upper right corner of the map without passing over the VL. Place
one Clanguard at the very edge of the map and unboard the other Clanguard near
(again, don't capture it) VL, then move the Engineer Centruroid with the rest
and form two Mortar Centruroids; place them at the outpost's western wall and
begin suppressive fire n the area near the easternmost tower. Move your
Penetrator Centruroids and Missile Clanguards north of the outpost, in the
valley east to the Radar Station. Once all your units are in position, place
two Prime Clanguards on the easternmost observation facing north and one Prime
Clanguard in each other tower; then move one Prime Clanguard in the Radar
Station and order the remaining Clanguard to capture the remaining VL.
Dr. McNeal will contact Angelus, asking why he didn't contacted her and what
he's doing there. She was in the lab and after seeing the deployment grids, she
warns Jacob that no NSA unit should be at that Outpost.
Warhurst escort (4 Liberators, 4 Marauders and 2 Guardians) will move in;
hopefully enough, they will get caught in the artillery explosions; once they
have passed that area, unmeld the Mortar Centruroids and have the resulting
Engineer Centruroids in secondary mode. The Liberators and two Rocket
Terradynes will place themselves north of the outpost; one Guardian will go
near the eastermost observation tower and all remaining forces northeast of the
Radar Station.
Soon enough, a NSA officer will proclaim Angelus and all forces under his
command traitors of the NSA and will ask to surrender. Have your Penetrators
destroy the now-hostile escort and immediately begin to move the Transports
toward the second VL.
Five LZs will appear on the map, on only one of them is neutral; lots of
forces, most Light Helidynes will launch from the north LZ and will go after
the Transports; the neutral LZ will be immediately taken by the Prime Clanguard
you placed there at the beginning of the mission. Order one Scout Helidyne, Six
Fighter Helidynes and other Penetrators to beef up the defenses. Move the
Fighters near the Transports and have them retreat at the LZ. Place the Scout
Helidyne in the canyon leading to the LZ in secondary mode and have the
Penetrators for a blockade there, in secondary mode so that enemies won't be
able to effectively counteract them. The Missile Clanguards will give them
anti-air support, have the Fighter Helidynes always stay with the Transports;
there's only way to access the LZ and it's blocked by your Centruroids and the
enemy won't spare Transport Helidynes for dropping units directly on it.
As the Platforms reach the LZ, Alice will dispatch Dropships to pick your whole
force up. The Dropships will employ three minutes to reacht the area, but
there's little to worry about. It is probably that Mobile Artilleries will try
to weaken your blockade, but it will be at the very end of the countdown and
you'll be able to see them thanks to the Scout Helidyne, so simple move out
your Penetrators to destroy them.
De-briefing:
Transport Echo 9-3 picked up Angelus and the Transports. No one knows what's
exactly going on, and Warhurst is nowhere to be found since the last
communication with the captain.
Name: REPTILE HOUSE
Briefing:
Little is known about Vlaana Azela, commander of the Terran forces invading the
Northern Star Alliance. Few have seen her, and even among Imperial troops,
there's a rumor that Vlaana doesn't even exist, that it's only a name used by
Centurions Dracus and Cezareus for sending orders.
Alice picked up a transmission from general Warhurst for Dracus; they are
meeting near the Morrum river. Rho must perform a little eavesdropping to know
what's going on.
The whole river area is plagued with storms and the Terrans have to rely on
burst communications, so disabling it will isolate them.
Drahk'Mar has also few Viron units already on stand-by.
Starting units:
+ 2 Prime Clanguards
+ 2 Missile Clanguards
+ Saergent Rho
Primary Objectives:
+ Rho must survive
+ Disable the Comm Relay
+ Pass the guard posts without getting spotted
+ Evacute Rho
Secondary Objectives:
none
Map Description: The first part of the mission is executed in the south area, a
couple of islands connected by three bridges. This area is hilly with lots of
small forests where to hide. Terrans have placed observation towers and
spotlight in all strategic locations, and the are is full of Legionnaires, plus
a couple of Striders. At the northeast tip of this area there are three Hover
APCs.
The northern part of the map is dominated by hilly terrain, with two LZs and
three VLs. The southermost LZ will be under your control while the northermost
under Terran control. The Terran LZ is atop of a hill and well protected by
many vehicles.
The first VL is located to the west, near a bunker. The second, to the east, is
atop a hill and has a bunker and a forest nearby. The third VL is on the road
leading to the Terran LZ, in a small valley.
Support Availability: Dropships and all Off-Map Attacks
Extra Unit Availability: everything
Weather Description: heavy rain for the first part, then mostly cloudly.
Walkthrough:
The first part of the mission is pretty simple: the general strategy is to have
Rho hopping from forest to forest to scout the ground and kill lone
Legionnaires and then have the four Viron men following to your position. This
whole part can be done without Rho taking a scratch or help from the Viron
units.
The first part of the map (till the Comm Relay) is totally undefended, just
move Rho over the nearby bridge and position him in the forest north of the
Relay and have him kill all 4 Legionnaires there; two explosive crates will
help in dealing with all of them at once, then destroy the Relay and go toward
the bunker north of your current position. Now, you are at a fork. If you want
Rho to gain a bit of experience, go north and proceed east to the three Hover
APCs. If not (which is also recomended: it's faster and there's less
probabilties that Rho will be killed), pass the bunker and infiltrate the
forest to its east, proceed on the southern island and cross the bridge heading
north to reach the Hover APCs.
If you go north, you will encounter about 15 Legionnaires plus two or three A4
Combat Striders; each bunker has a group of three Legionnaires that will flee
if Rho is spotted. To avoid screwing up the mission, you have to kill them
before they reach the Hover APCs; thanks to Rho's sniping abilities it won't be
a big problem, but careless planning can lead to alert more and more
Legionnaires, maybe even calling one of those Striders...that's were the Virons
enter in play, though they lower speed and stealthness will make harder having
them always following Rho. The Combat Striders patrol the area near the second
bridge (the one facing east) and in the middle of the northern part of the
island, and are followed by at least one Legionnaire.
The southern route is much more safer: expect a sngle group of two A4 Striders
and one Legionnaire near the bridge facing north.
Heading toward the Hover APCs is an other easy task: there will be only three
Legionnaires near a bunker on the right side of the peninsula and probably
other four Legionnaires near the gates, which will be a good practice for Rho.
As you near the APCs the rain will stop.
Once Rho started an Hover APC, he will find a good place where to eavesdrop
Dracus and Warhurst meeting. The general is determined to leave control to the
Terrans as long he's not sure they won't slaughter the
population...unfortunately a Legionnaire will spot Rho and Dracus will end the
meeting.
Now the action will be moved to the northern island: you have an LZ at your
disposal and Rho and all Viron units will have its health restored. Immediately
place the five infantry units in the nearby bunker, facing east and call down
an Engineer Centruroid, a Scout Helidyne, two Fighter Helidynes and at least 8
Penetrator Centruroids. As soon as you have those forces, send them to rescue
Rho. Do it quickly, there's no point in attacking the Terran LZ as they will
send soon enough an Howitzer to attack the bunker, and Rho and the Virons won't
be able to withstand this attack. Once you have Rho, head back to your LZ; even
if it's captured, you just have to bring him there to end the mission.
However, if you really want to overtake all Terran opposition in the area, it
won't be a big problem; the west VL is protected by a mix of Missile and Combat
Striders, plus some Legionnaires. The VL where Rho was has a disabled Radar
Station nearby and there will be a few armored units, but not too many. The VL
leading to the Terran base is protected by 3 Destroyer Hoverdynes and the LZ
isn't heavy defended.
De-briefing:
No one believe Warhurst is a traitor. That makes sense for Grant's
disappearance and the Terrans knowing about the mission on Krig.
Name: UNLOCKING THE SKY
Briefing:
Warhurst locked himself in Fort Keel with the last remainig loyalist troops;
He's also holding Grant somewhere in the region. There's an other problem: the
evacuation can't start as Fort Keel has the Shield Nodes near it, so the must
be taken back. It's time to stop Warhurst before he can help the Terrans more
and to pay for his crimes.
Starting units:
+ 2 Prime Clanguards
+ 2 Infector Clanguards
+ 2 Missile Clanguards
+ 2 Penetrator Centruroids
+ 2 Great Corruptor Cetruroids
+ 1 Gun Centruroid
+ 1 Mortar Centruroid
+ 1 Corruptor Centruroid
Primary Objectives:
+ Retake Control of the shield
+ Free major Grant
+ Shield Nodes must remain intact
+ Stop Warhurst's escape
Secondary Objectives:
none
Map Description: the map is composed by three big islands, all with urban
environment.
The first island, the northeast one, holds the NSA stronghold and all three
Shield Nodes; it's well protected by SAM Sites, Shrike-5 turrets and Imperial
AMS devices. Each Shield Node is a VL, protected by an AMS. This island is set
on two levels: the first, at the same level of the remaining islands, with two
access ramps to the second level; each ramp is protected by two Shrike-5
turrets. The second level holds an LZ and the NSA stronghold. This level has
two SAM Sites on the north, set on an inacessible platform (you have to use an
airborne APC or Assault Pods to reach it), plus a lot of other sites positioned
on the wall sorrounding the stronghold itself; there's a single AMS protecting
the main building.
The second island is connecte to the first by two bridges located in the
central area; it holds a prison (which is also a VL) on the west side,
protected by two Shrike-5 turrets and two SAM Sites and an LZ on the north; two
Shirke-5 turrets and two SAM sites (again, the SAM sites are on an inacessible
platform) protect this LZ, which is also sorrounded by observation towers.
The third (and biggest) island is connected to the second by two bridges; the
northermost one leads directly to the LZ and it's protected by two Shrike-5s,
while the westernmost leads near the prison, and the usual pair of ground
turrets protect it. On this island, in the lowerright corner, there's your
starting position and first LZ.
Support Availability: Dropships and all Off-Map Attacks
Extra Unit Availability: everything
Weather Description: light clouds for the whole mission.
Walkthrough:
Unmeld all "complex" units and call down a Scout Helidyne, 6 Fighter Helidynes
and at least 8 Penetrator Centruroids. You'll be on the defensive for a while
and after the first wave you'll have to call down other units and start to
march toward Warhurst.
For the whole mission, Warhusrt will use tons of Helidynes, so having a full
group of 16 Fighters will be a must; the usual group of Penetrators will do for
the main ground offensive and with the support of both Engineer Centruroids and
Scout Helidyne you won't have much problems in taking control of the area.
In the first minutes, Warhurst will use whatever he has to overrun your LZ:
Liberators, Ravagers, Siege Soldiers, Snipers, Helidyne, Mobile Artillery and
even Recon Terradynes; surprisingly enough, these units will be more
problematic to deal with than the rest due to their high speed, which will make
your Penetrators miss several shots.
Place six Penetrators north of the LZ, facing the road heading west while the
rest covers the north area; remember to put them in secondary mode so that any
unit daring to come near the LZ will recieve some heavy fire. The infantry
units will go near the Penetrators facing west, while the Corruptor and Gun
Centruroids will be directly on the LZ.
Although the ground assault might look fierce, it cannot be compared to the
army of Helidynes the general will use. Expect groups of four, or at least
three units to patrol the area around your starting position throughout the
mission; this won't be a problem in the final stages, as they won't be able to
capture the LZ by themselves and they will be shattered to pieces by Missile
Clanguards, but right now, Helidynes will come in force to destroy your ground
vehicles; however, thanks to the quality and numerical superiority of your
Fighter Helidynes, plus the sensor coverage given by the Scout Helidyne, you'll
be able to destroy large groups of them, retreat, heal (with either Engineer
Centruroids or the Fighters' secondary mode...in this case remember to switch
them back to primary mode if you want to use them for attack) and then go back
to deal with an other group. It is interesting to note that the NSA Helidynes
will "esitate" to attacks, preffering going around, patrolling the skies; this
will be their wrongdoing, as you'll always be able to see them, fire a couple
of salvos and retreat serious damage can be taken.
As soon general Warhurst has no more Helidynes or ground units to throw at you
(Helidynes will begin patrolling the north canal between the second an third
island while Guardians will be more and more common), complete your strike
force (16 Fighter Helidynesyou should already have them- and at least 12
Penetrators) and call down some Missile Clanguards to strenghten the LZ
defenses.
Begin to advance. The first step will be to destroy the two Shrike-5 turrets
and the Liberator Terradyne on the second island southern side from long range,
using the Penetrators' secondary mode. Probably two other groups of Helidynes
will come toward you, just let them know your Fighter's missile and move the
Scout Helidyne to highlight any other unit or turret within range, then advance
toward the second LZ, ignoring the prison for now.
There will be NSA Helidynes near the prison, but don't get greedy or the SAM
Sites on the prison's west side will make short work of your Fighters: attack
them only if they attack you.
The second LZ has two Shrike-5 turrets protecting it, plus two Light Troopers
on a observation tower. Usual tactic, use the Scout Helidyne to spot them and
with the Penetrators' secondary mode, kill them at range. Before moving any air
unit near the LZ, be sure to use a single Assault Pods attack to drop Prime
Clanguards on the platform north of it to disable the single SAM site. Do the
same with the platform north of the third LZ (two SAM sites); dropping Prime
Clanguards there will also make two Artillery Units firing at them; to avoid
their fire, just move the Clanguards on the extreme north of the platform.
With the second LZ under your control, Head toward the horizontal bridge near
it and place your Penetrators in secondary mode to destroy anything that dares
crossing the bridge. Probably, few infantry units or Recon Terradynes will be
able to pass you, and they will reconquer the VL in the island southern part.
Ignore them for now, concentrate on repairing your units and call down at least
three Missile Centruroids (well, six Gun Centruroids that you'll meld into
Missile Centruroids). The ideal is to have four of them and even a spare Scout
Helidyne, put if you have less than 12 Penetrators, use your APs to replace
your losses.
Now that you know where the two Mobile Artilleries are, you can use an
Artillery Barrage or a third Assault Pods attack to take them off, so you won't
have to rush your Penetrators to cross the ramp for the LZ, exposing them to
unnecessary threats. If you want, you can also meld the Engineers into a Mortar
Centruoids for some indirect long-range firepower. As the NSA Artilleries are
gone, proceed on the third island; either ramp you take, be prepared to take
down two Shrike-5 turrets, and be sure to take down all four, then advance over
the LZ to take it. Do not move any air unit where you are now, the area is
literally filled with SAM sites. The Missile Centruroids will give you the
anti-air support you need, and will also work as spotters for the Penetrators'
long-range fire against the SAM site. As long as a SAM site is operational,
ignore the main Fort Keel compound.
Once your work in disabling the SAM sites is finished, order one of your Scout
Helidynes to reach the area (note: bug or not, the Scout Helidyne will have
some difficulties in "climbing" the island levels...manually move him near a
ramp and make it move over it to reach the desired position) and activate its
secondary mode: the compound is protected by an AMS, four Ravagers and three
Heavy APCs. As soon one unit is destroyed, all surviving troops will begin to
move, trying to escape; they will go for the southern ramp, and you have to
stop them: Warhurst is on one of the three Heavy APCs (the last one will always
be where he's on), so take care of them before taking out the Ravagers.
Now that Warhurst is eating dirt, it's time to rescue major Grant from the
prison. Move the surviving ground units on the southermost VL (the one that
should be under enemy control), destroy everything here and then move to
destroy the four turrets (two Shrike-5s, two SAM sites) protecting the prison,
and Rho will infiltrate. Major Grant is safe, and although a bit proved, he'll
tell you to kick Warhurst in the teeth for him.
Time to take care of the Shield Nodes. The only defended Node is the northeast
one, by a Ravager and a Siege Soldiers; all Nodes have an AMS, which you
shouldn't attack. Once you have taken out the only two ground units protecting
the Nodes, mode a unit over the VLs to take control of them and to end the
mission.
De-briefing:
Evacuation is underway and the Virons already set up the drills to make their
last stand against the Terrans. All it's needed is to keep at bay the Terrans
until the whole population has left and the Astrid is ready to launch. The
Terran armada isn't due before three days and the whole population should be
long gone before this. The course is set for Centaurus-A, which has plenty of
habitable planets.
Name: NOTHING MORE TO BURN
Briefing:
The last dawn on Morningstar Prime. The only things left to do are to evacuate
the whole population, repel Terran forces and jump toward Centaurus-A. If Rho
was the commanding officer, he would name this mission "Operation Exodus", or
something similar. Angelus hopes that the Singularity Drive won't awake the
elder race, now that the Astrid is far away from any Xenofacts: if the Elder
Race would awake and what's been uncovered it's true, the consequences will be
dire for everyone. When all population will have left the planet the Virons
will be able to organize their last stand. And when all it will be over,
Angelus hopes to do that candle-lit dinner with Alice...
Alice managed to pull together a one-way transport for the whole population,
and she will leave the planet on the last Shuttle with the military. Although
Grant has just recovered from imprisonment, he won't sit on his ass watching
the others saving the planet.
Drahk'Mar tells that the Viron will help the NSA in this final battle, and they
will meet again...and maybe he will command Cai'Vi troops. Angelus will reply
that it would be an honor.
Starting units:
+ 3 Prime Clanguards
+ 2 Missile Clanguards
+ 3 Mortar Clanguards
+ 3 Gun Centruroids
+ 2 Missile Centruroids
+ 2 Penetrator Centruroids
+ 1 Great Corruptor Centruroid
+ 1 Corruptor Centruroid
+ 1 Engineer Centruroid
+ 1 Mortar Centruroid
Primary Objectives:
+ Protect the Shuttles
+ Destroy the Anti-Orbital Cannon
+ Escort Alice to the Dropship
+ 30 minutes till the activation of the Singularity Drive
Secondary Objectives:
none
Map Description: the map is set in a city formed by two main islands plus four
secondary islands, all of them set in the west part of the map.
The first main island contains your starting position and LZ in its lower right
side and six other VLs. Four of them are arranged into a cross not far from
your LZ and represent the Shuttles. These VLs must be kept under your control
or you'll fail the mission.; the whole area is sorrounded by a wall with six
gates (two each side), and each gate is protected by two Shrike-5 turrets. The
remaining two VLs are located north and northeast of the shuttles; the first,
is et on a wide open area while the second in a small square in what remains of
a city block.
The second island is under Terran control and encircles the first island on the
north and east side. Near the upper edge, there is the main Terran VL, heavily
protected by SAM Sites, AT and Pulverizer Turrets. Two AT Turrets guard the two
bridges connecting the two main islands; there's a third bridge to the east,
but it's fallen and therefore useless. On the extreme east, there's VL with a
SAM site; to reach this VL, you have to cross the eastermost bridge and proceed
over a small terrain strip.
The remaining islands are small. The southermost one is the biggest and will
host a LZ later on the mission. It is connected to the first main island and to
the secondary island to the north by two bridges; there are no defensive
turrets.
The island north of the previous island has a VL but still no turrets.
The remaining two islands are firmly under NSA control, well protected by
Shrike-5s and connected to the first main island by a single bridge; an other
bridge connects the two islands.
Support Availability: Dropships and all Off-Map Attacks
Extra Unit Availability: everything
Weather Description: set in a clear night
Walkthrough:
Here is it, the final mission. You have to hold out the Imperial forces, and
even with major's support, it won't be easy. Just look at the Imperial LZ, it
almost speak. "Die" or other funny things, of course. Do not think you will be
easily overrun, too, even if you immediately move all your forces toward it,
the turrets will take you down. You'll get past the two AT turrets near the
bridge, you'll outflank the first Pulverizer turret just to found yourself
sorrounded by an other couple of these turrets, north of the LZ itself. Better
concentrating on defending the shuttles...not that you'll have much more choice.
Major Grant has some forces in the area. Ravagers, Liberators, Light Troopers
and Marauders, mostly concentrate near the shuttles and others in the northwest
VL. Unfortunately you won't be able to repair his units. Grant will also man
most of the Shrike-5 turrets around the launch area, securing the south, west
and east areas: you'll basically have to secure the north side and your
LZ...for now. Expect heavy terran resistance and be prepared for everything;
luckily enough, even with a 0% upkeep rate, you'll be able to collect APs by
killing the tons of Terran units in the area.
Remember that the mission lasts only 30 minutes and all objectives must be
completed within this time limit.
Unmeld all "complex" units except the Missile Centruroids and call down two
Scout Centruroids and as many Penetrator Centruroids you can.
Move each Scout Helidyne near each north gate and activate their secondary
mode. The three Gun Centruroids and five Penetrators will go protecting the
left-most gate, covered by one Engineer Centruroid and both Missile
Centruroids. All remaining Penetrator and Engineer Centruroids will go on the
right-most gate; leave the Corruptor Centruroid and all Clanguards near the LZ
for now. The left-most gate will be alright for now, but the right-most gate
will need at least 10-12 Centruroids to be fully defended. Use some APs to call
down extra Missile Clanguards, you'll need them to fend off any Helidyne-based
assault the Terrans will stage later in the mission: although Fighter Helidynes
are better suited for this task, Missile Clanguards won't be targeted by the
Imperial Helidynes and will provide extra firepower against ground targets.
In the first five minutes the Imperials will use mostly Destroyer Hoverdynes
with few Striders to support, which will be easily destroyed by the
Penetrators' long range fire. All attacks will concentrate on the two gates
where you have placed your units, and probably a Destroyer Hoverdyne or two
will go for your LZ, but it will found your Clanguards welcoming it.
Around the fifth/sixth minute, the Imperial Armada (6 battleships) will show
up, with the astonishment of all NSA troops. The Astrid will engage the ships
in battle but will be able to hold such attacks, so don't worry too much
(noticed that the Astrid is bigger than all ships?). Vlaana herself will show
up, and will order you to surrender or any man, woman and child on the planet
will be executed. Again, who cares what the Terrans say? Just go on with your
defenses, replacing losses and ordering down new troops: if you haven't done it
before, begin to call down Missile Clanguards and move the ones you have on the
LZ near your units defending the shuttles.
Rho will report that he spotted never-seen-before Terran units; these units are
simple trucks, but must be destroyed as soon as they enter firing range: the
trucks are filled with cobalt charges, and if they reach a VL, the
correspongind shuttle will be destroyed. Terrans will send only four of these
trucks, two for each gate you are defending since the mission start, so they
won't pose a great threat.
Later on, the Terrans will stage an heavy assault, driven mostly by Destroyer
Helidynes, but this time several Missile Striders will give them support: this
will be the first time your defensive line will be put through a real test, be
sure to issue repair orders as soon as a unit comes under attack and focus fire
on a single unit to reduce their firepower quickly.
The first shuttle will take off, but the Terrans will destroy one Shield Node:
your position will be wide open for attacks coming from space, and around the
tenth minute the Terrans will setup an LZ on the south-west island and will
immediately deploy other four coblat-filled trucks and two Conqueror
Hoverdynes, which will go for the west and south gates; luckily enough the
Shrike-5s turrets there will still be active, so you won't probably have too
much to worry about, at least from the trucks; dispatch three or four
Penetrators to repel this sneak attack and capture the LZ, then move the
vehicles near the LZ; although the Imperials will send five Conqueror
Hoverdynes toward the north gates, your units won't have too many problems in
destroying them; however, they will begin to use Attack Helidynes, and I really
hope you ordered Missile Clanguards, or your defense lines will be shattered
into pieces in no time. It is imperative to hold the line and call down other
Missile Clanguards after this first attack has been weathered, the Terrans'
next move will be quite devastating.
A mobile anti-orbital cannon will land near the north LZ and Dracus is in it;
the cannon will begin to fire at the Astrid, and Drahk'mar will tell you that
the ship won't be able to reply to this attack and will soon be destroyed if
the cannon is not put out of action. In two or three shots, the Astrid's health
will go down by 10%, and if it reaces zero...game over, man, game over.
Not enough, a more numerous Helidyne group will begin to pound your lines:
although the Terrans won't probably have much more APs to create an other
strong assault force, the defensive line most not be broken, have the Missile
Clanguards fire at will and use your Engineer Centruroids repair the
Penetrators or other Engineer Centruroids.
With this attack, you should have enough APs to call down Assault Pods; target:
the anti-orbital cannon. Drop the Pods directly onto the cannon, it will
recieve damage and you won't loose the Clanguards, which will be able to
destroy the emplacement in few shots; since the cannon is defende by AMS
devices, it's useless to attack with an Artillery Barrage, nor you'll be able
to move enough troops to overrun the Terran defenses near the LZ.
Call down other three or four Penetrator Centruoids and leave them near the LZ;
this time the Terrans will be really short on APs, and only few light units
will remain defending their positions, however...
Alice is ready to leave: all civilians are aboard the Astrid and only her and
the military are left to evacuate; however the Terrans will destroy all three
shuttles, trapping everyone to the ground; major Grant has still a single
Dropship active and will escort Alice, to only one knowing how to activate the
Singularity Drive, to the Astrid, you'll just have to bring her to the VL at
the map's right edge. Yes, the one that is only accessible passing through
Terran-occupied terrain.
Immediately move the VIP Transport on your LZ and use all units you can spare
to clear any resistance within the city and to keep the Terran defenses near
the LZ busy while the Transport bypasses them and reach the VL; luckily enough
there won't be any Terran units in the right part of the map, so you'll be able
to order the Transport to proceed though it without too much worries; as this
whole task is assigned you in the last ten minutes available, you can also use
some troops from your defensive line at the shuttles to clear the road for the
transport, waiting to have extra reinforcments isn't a good idea.
As the Transport nears its destination, the Terrans will destroy most of
Grant's troops with a space attack, leaving the defense exclusively to you.
Mission is over when the Transport reaches the VL.
De-briefing:
none...well, there is, but I won't spoil it.
Congratulations, you have completed Ground Control II: Operation Exodus. Sit
back and enjoy the ending.
See you in the expansion pack or GC III, whichever comes out first.
*********
12-CHEATS
*********
During a mission, hit twice the tilde ( ~ key...for non US keyboard users, it's
the key left to the "1" key) to bring up the game console and type these codes:
GODMASSIVE: invicible units
FPS: shows frames per second
GOMASSIVE: unlock all missions
*******************
13-CREDITS and MISC
*******************
And here it goes...Massive and Sierra for the game, you for reading everything
above and everyone else not reading this but playing this game.
I'd write the usual sequence of metal bands/soundtracks that served as musical
background for the countless hours spent writing this document, but since I'd
write down the usual names, I pass this time.
But there's someone I'd like to thank wil all my hearth: the people at Nippon
Ichi. Thanks for La Pucella and Disgaea. I can't wait to lay my hands on
Phantom Brave. Ride the sky people.
So far, these are all sites that can display this FAQ/walkthrough:
1) Wolfart (http://wolfart.altervista.org; my personal site...pay a visit,
pleeeeeeeez)
2) GameFAQs (http://www.gamefaqs.com)
3) IGN FAQs (http://faqs.ign.com)
4) Action Trip (http://www.actiontrip.com)
5) Cheats.DE (http://www.cheats.de)
6) Cheat CodeCentral (http://www.cheatcc.com)
7) DLH.NET (http://www.dlh.net)
8) Neoseeker (http://www.neoseeker.com)
9) Cheat Happens (http://cheathappens.com)
10) PC Gamer UK cover CD
To ask permission to post this document, just send a mail writing down the URL.
To contact me, write at briareos_hf@tiscali.it; ICQ UIN is 40534369; Odigo ID
is 264286. Write only about this FAQ or if you have a cute
(female)friend/sister to introduce.
Copyright (c) Briareos Kerensky 2004/2005. Reproduction and translation of
this document (as a whole or parts of its) in any mode without permission is
strictly forbidden.
All names and marks are proprerties of respective owners.
Sunrise I greet you, the beauty of your sight
so warm and tender was never the night
In tears I see you, the last time it will be
so give me your blessing I'll meet my destiny
-Leif Edling, "At The Gallow's End"
